Economy creates 42,900 new jobs
Canada’s jobless rate dips to 6.9 per cent
OTTAWA — Canada’s economy showed signs of thawing out from a long, bitter winter last month, churning out an unexpectedly high 42,900 net new jobs that helped shave the unemployment rate to 6.9 per cent — matching a post-recession low.
The Canadian jobs gain, although mostly part time, was about double what economists had anticipated and more than wipes out February’s 7,000 dip.
The other surprise in the Statistics Canada report was that most of the new employment — 32,500 jobs — went to young Canadians, the 1524 age group that has mostly been left behind during the recovery.
March’s advance helps shore up an employment picture that had turned decidedly bleak during the winter with job losses of 22,000 workers in a three-month stretch.
Markets reacted by lifting the loonie 0.62 of a cent to 91.21 cents U.S., adding to the recent tepid rally in the currency.
While not eye-popping numbers, analysts took the news as generally positive, confirming conventional belief that the economy’s slowdown during the winter, especially December, was mostly weather-related.
Also somewhat encouraging was the employment report in the U.S., which saw 192,000 jobs added last month. That was slightly below consensus, but it also included upward revisions to February and January’s numbers and a strong 0.7 per cent pickup in hours worked.
“The ice jam around Canadian employment appears to have finally broken,” said Doug Porter, chief economist at the Bank of Montreal.
“Combined with the recent upside surprises in inflation, the decent job gain further reduces the already very slim odds of a Bank of Canada rate cut, and provides a bit of nearterm support for the loonie.”
But the numbers weren’t likely strong enough to move the central bank off its neutral stance, economists noted. They still don’t expect interest rates to start heating up until sometime in 2015.
Over the past year, job gains are running at 1.1 per cent, or just above the growth in the labour force. March’s numbers means that job creation over the past six months has averaged slightly under 10,000, a tepid pace of growth.
Three-quarters of the net new jobs, 30,100, were part time and almost all were in the public sector. The goods-producing sector shed almost 16,000 jobs, with agriculture and manufacturing both experiencing employment losses.