Canada’s real estate sector is making a shift. Statistics Canada (Stat Can) data shows FIRE sector jobs made a small decline in June. The aggregate movement was small, but most of the gains are being made in smaller provinces. Larger provinces like Ontario and Quebec lost thousands of jobs in the sector last month.

The finance, insurance, and real estate (FIRE) sector is the industry of buying and selling homes. The industry booms when asset prices rise, and/or more interest payers are added – i.e. more credit is issued. It suffers when asset prices fall, or credit growth starts to slow down. The sector becomes more important as manufacturing jobs disappear. Yes, the business of warehousing people replaces the business of producing goods. Debt driven economies, such as Canada, are increasingly dependent on this sector.

Canadian FIRE sector employment is virtually flat from the month before. FIRE seasonally adjusted employment fell to 1.193 million jobs in June, down 0.02% from the month before. This was the first monthly decline for June since 2014. The decline works out to 200 jobs, so not nearly as bad as May – when 2,300 jobs were lost. June’s movement was small, but some provinces were luckier than others….CLICK for complete article