Unemployment rate down to lowest in almost four decades
OTTAWA Canada’s unemployment rate nudged down to a near four-decade low last month as the economy added more jobs than analysts expected — dropping an economic figure into a tight electoral race, and warnings from economists that things may not be as rosy as they seem.
Statistics Canada’s monthly labour force survey showed the services sector gained 49,400 jobs in September, mostly in the healthcare and social assistance sectors, while the goods-producing sector saw an increase of 4,300, because of the construction industry. The jobless rate nationally fell by 0.2 points to 5.5 per cent.
Meanwhile, the number of fulltime jobs rose by 70,000, while parttime jobs fell by 16,300.
The numbers surpassed analysts’ expectations of a gain of 10,000 jobs, according to financial markets data firm Refinitiv, after an August jump of 81,000.
Statcan said September’s jobs growth was largely concentrated in an expansion of public-sector staff and self-employed workers.
Compared with a year earlier, the numbers show Canada added 456,000 jobs, for an increase of 2.4 per cent, and average hourly wages, too, were up about 4.3 per cent from the same time in 2018.
“Canada’s labour market has really been on a tear over the last year — job growth has been very strong,” said Josh Nye, senior economist with RBC Economics. “Unemployment is low, wages are starting to pick up. Wage growth was really the missing ingredient .... ”
BMO chief economist Doug Porter said that despite the solid growth in jobs, the broader economy remains lacklustre with yearover-year GDP growth crawling along at 1.3 per cent.
“We’re getting the jobs gains, but it’s not really translating into the big gains in spending or the broader economy in terms of overall output gains . ... So I wouldn’t say the overall picture is entirely rosy, but it’s still I’d regard as encouraging that we’re continuing to churn out job increases.”
The Canadian Press
With a file from Reuters