I generally don't pay much attention to the month-to-month changes in the provincial employment numbers, but there's something going on in Quebec.

Canadian employment growth has been slow in the second half of 2011: employment and hours worked in December were roughly at the same levels they were in July. But - as ever - there have been significant regional variations around the national average. Here are the regional changes in levels of employment since the peak in October 2008:







And here are the changes expressed in terms of per cent changes from the peak:

Quebec employment peaked in May, and it has fallen by 2% in the seven months since then. To put this number into context, Canadian employment fell by 2.5% in the nine months following the October 2008 peak.

One or two months of bad numbers could be a statistical glitch. But a 2% drop in seven months is something for policy-makers in Quebec City - and maybe in Ottawa - to worry about.

I'm going to see what I can do to figure out what's going on.