Wage growth hits fastest pace since 2009, but economy sheds jobs
OTTAWA Wage growth accelerated last month to its fastest clip in more than a decade, according to numbers released Friday from Statistics Canada.
The 4.5 per cent burst came in a month that also produced less-positive data: the unemployment rate moved up to 5.7 per cent as Canada shed 24,200 jobs.
The increase in wages — as measured by year-over-year average hourly wage growth for all employees — marked the indicator’s strongest month since January 2009.
The reading, one of several wage measures closely watched by the Bank of Canada, was up from 3.8 per cent in June and 2.8 per cent in May. In Quebec, wage growth sped up to nearly 6.2 per cent, while Ontario’s number was 5.1 per cent.
In terms of job creation, the economy saw its weakest threemonth stretch since early 2018. Until the spring pause, Canada had a been on a healthy run of monthly employment gains since last summer.
The survey found the numbers were nearly flat between May and July, a period that saw Canada add an average of 400 jobs per month. The agency cautions, however, that the recent monthly readings have been small enough that they’re within the margin of error and, therefore, statistically insignificant.
Even with the July decline, compared to a year earlier, the numbers show Canada added 353,000 new positions — almost all of which were full time — for an encouraging overall increase of 1.9 per cent.
The July unemployment rate remained near historic lows even after edging up to 5.7 per cent from 5.5 per cent in June. The rate was 5.4 per cent in May, which was its lowest mark since 1976.
Stephen Brown, senior Canada economist for Capital Economics, said the wage data released Friday — along with other recent wage indicators — suggest the measures are finally catching up to the tightened job market.