'Worst jobs reading in three years' raises odds of Bank of Canada rate cut next month

 

Canada’s jobs market turned on its head in July, shedding 41,000 positions after gaining 83,000 in June.

Analysts had called for an additional 10,000 jobs last month.

Signs of weakness were scattered throughout the data.

For example, while 10 of 16 sectors shed jobs, most of the losses were full-time, private-sector positions. Total hours worked declined, which bodes ill for gross domestic product in July, Porter said.

Wage growth is also down two percentage points from the same time last year, at 3.3 per cent. In June, wage growth came in at 3.1 per cent.

Four provinces recorded job losses, “but unfortunately it was the largest four,” said Porter, with British Columbia and Alberta each shedding just over 16,000 positions. That lifted Alberta’s unemployment rate to 7.9 per cent, compared to the national average of 6.9 per cent.

While the unemployment rate held steady at 6.9 per cent, that was due to a drop in the number of people working or looking for work. Meanwhile, the labour force shrank by 33,000 even though Canada’s population grew by 37,000.

https://financialpost.com/news/economy/weak-jobs-reading-raises-odds-bank-canada-rate-cut