P.E.I. loses 700 more jobs in March

P.E.I. lost 700 jobs in the month ofMarch, according to the latest figures from Statistics Canada.

That continues a downward trend that has seen the province lose 2,300 jobs over the past year.

The province actually lost 1,500 full-time jobs in March 2016, but an increase of 800 part-time positions made up some of the difference.

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The number of Islanders looking for work also continued to drop. There were 800 fewer Islanders in the workforce in March compared to the month before.

The unemployment rate on P.E.I. was steady at 11 per cent.

Nationally, the unemployment rate was 7.1 per cent in March, down from 7.4 in February.

We have to improve job creation record: minister

Economic Development Minister Health MacDonald admitted his government has to do a better job of creating jobs.

"Our government has to step up and we have to work hard to create more jobs," said MacDonald, who'sin charge of the province's $370 million loan portfolio money the province lends out to businesses in order to spur development and hopefully create jobs.

"We have to continue to talk to our industries and find out exactly what they need. We have to continue to build on the successes that we already have, so if we have good companies out there how can we help them expand through our lending development?"

Today the opposition criticized government's handling of its loan portfolio, and one case in particular: a loan to Dyne Holdings which had $35.5 million outstanding as of March 31, 2015. The loan was approved by cabinet in 2008, against the advice of one of the province's lending agencies Island Investment Development Inc., to finance construction of the Homburg Hotel and other downtown properties.

"I think the government needs to realize that we've got to look at a bigger opportunity here, start to focus on small business," said opposition economic development critic Matthew MacKay. "We've been going at the Homburg loan all week. Look at how many small businesses we could have put on P.E.I. with 40 million taxpayer dollars?"

As part of the speech from the throne, the provincial government pledged earlier this week to focus on building up the working-age population by retaining workers in the province, and convincing Islanders who've moved away to come home.

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