Jobless rate drops to 9-year low of 6.2%

ECONOMY Part-time work fuels growth in August

• Canada’s labour market posted its ninthstraight month of job gains in August to give the economy i ts l ongest monthly growth streak since before the financial crisis nine years ago.

Statistics Canada says last month’s increase of 22,200 jobs also helped nudge the unemployment rate down from 6.3 per cent in July to a nine-year low of 6.2 per cent.

But Friday’s data showed t he August growth was f uelled by l ess- desirable work, as the economy gained 110,400 part- time jobs and shed 88,100 full- time positions.

The agency said most of the decline in full-time work was concentrated among young Canadians aged 15 to 24 years old. The youth category also showed a notable decrease last month in participation as fewer young people looked for work.

The August numbers also showed a decline of 10,400 paid employee positions, while the number of people who described themselves as self-employed, including unpaid workers in family businesses, increased by 32,700.

Looking at the bigger picture, however, the latest numbers said the labour market expanded 2.1 per cent compared to a year earlier with the addition of 374,300 net new jobs. Of those new jobs, 213,400 were full time.

The data provided yet another sign the economy continued to have momentum after a stronger- thanexpected start to 2017 that has also prompted two interest rate hikes by the Bank of Canada.

Last month’s labour data showed that the services sector gained 35,900 jobs while the number of factory positions fell by 13,700. The goods-sector slide was led by a loss of 11,100 manufacturing positions.