‘All in all, a fairly weak jobs report’. – David Madani, Capital Economics
Canadian employment growth fell unexpectedly last month, whereas the unemployment rate hit its lowest level in nearly nine years. Statistics Canada reported on Friday that the Canadian economy created 3.2K jobs in April, following the preceding month’s climb of 19.4K and falling behind analysts’ expectations for a 20.0K job gain. Meanwhile, the unemployment rate dropped to 6.5%, while analysts expected an unchanged reading of 6.7%. Statistics Canada attributed the decline in the jobless rate to 45.5K people leaving the labour force. It also noted that the youth jobless rate fell 1.1% to 11.7%. Average hourly earnings rose 0.7% on an annual basis in April, the slowest since October 1997. In regional terms, the largest job gain of 11.3K was registered in British Columbia, where the unemployment rate climbed slightly to 5.5%. Analysts suggested that the economy lost positive momentum after showing strong economic growth in the final quarter of 2016. The Bank of England said at its recent meeting that it was concerned with weak pay growth and noted that there was still room for improvement.
