Just because I'm one of those geeks that likes to fool around with a spreadsheet, here's some more data on job creation in Canada during the last five years, a period in which the loonie's value has soared compared to the currency of our biggest trading partner, the U.S.
- The average value of the loonie in January 2003 was 64.88 cents. Now, of course, we're at par, a rise of more than 54 per cent. In August of this year — the most recent month for which Statistics Canada has provided employment data — the average value of loonie was 94.5 cents, a rise of 45.7 per cent. In January of 2003, there were 15.2 million full- and part-time jobs in the country. In August of this year, there were 17.2 million jobs, a net gain of 1.97 million new jobs.
- For the year 2003, the loonie appreciated in value by about 17.42 per cent. The Canadian economy created 554,000 new jobs.
- For 2004, the loonie rose just over six per cent. The economy continued to create new jobs — 501,700 for 2004.
- In 2005, the loonie was up 5.4 per cent and another 550,000 jobs were created.
- In 2006, the loonie started and ended the year at about the same — just 0.38 per cent increase (I'm comparing average monthly value to average monthly value rather than opening trade to closing trade). Economy created a whopping 625,000 jobs.
- By August of 2007, the loonie was on a tear, up more than 11 per cent and, lo and behold, we're on a pace for the best year yet of job creation — with more than 808,000 new jobs in the first eight months of the year.