The federal jobless rate rose as more people entered the labour force and started looking for work.
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Staying true to its usual seesaw pattern, employment growth in Canada rebounded in August by an amount nearly equal to the number of jobs lost in the previous month.
Forecasters had expected an overall gain of up to 25,000 positions, following a decline of more than 31,000 in July. The largest decline was 23,100 in the professional, scientific and technical services category.
Economists were encouraged by the 52,000 gain in full-time work, but noted the report could be volatile month-to-month.
Geographically, the eastern province of Quebec created 22,000 jobs in August, with the jobless rate stable at 7.1 percent. “From a longer-term perspective, Canadian labour markets remain consistent with the economic lethargy that has characterized the first half of this year”.
Evidence of slack in Canada’s labor market is deepening, even as the country adds jobs.
Statistics Canada also said it was able to restore the job survey in Alberta’s Wood Buffalo region in August, after wildfires forced a halt to that work earlier this year.
The plunge was due to a loss of 71,400 net full-time jobs in the month, offset in part by an increase of 40,200 part-time positions.
“In many respects this is really just the mirror image of what we saw last month”, Porter said. The Canadian monthly Jobs data is overall positive but there will still be worries arising from the underlying structural issues, especially due to the fact that employment gains over the previous year has been mostly driven by part-time employment.
“For one, the weaker sectors of the economy-goods production, especially oil, and construction-are dominated by male employment”.
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By industry, public administration rose by 16,300, followed by a gain of 11,300 at retail and wholesale companies.
