Canada's permanent employees earning more, according to latest jobs data
CTV
Canada added lower-than-expected 14,500 jobs in October and wages of permanent employees rose, data showed on Friday, as the economy grappled to absorb the slack built up due to a rapidly rising population amid an overheated market.
Canada added a fewer-than-expected 14,500 jobs in October and wages of permanent employees rose, data showed on Friday, as the economy struggled to absorb the slack built up due to a rapidly increasing labor force.
The unemployment rate stayed unchanged from September but hovered around a 34-month high of 6.5 per cent, Statistics Canada said.
Analysts polled by Reuters had estimated a net addition of 25,000 jobs and the unemployment rate to edge up to 6.6 per cent.
Canada's business investment and hiring have been muted even after four rounds of rate cuts as high interest rates and inflation have throttled demand, and as the labor force has continued to grow, fueled by immigration, which crossed 7 per cent of the overall population in the third quarter, an all-time high.
This has increased the number of people in the labor force seeking jobs and not landing any, resulting in a steady fall in the employment rate, or the number of people employed out of the total working age population of 15 years and above.
Canada's labor force has swelled by 2.4 per cent since last year but the employment rate shrunk to 60.6 per cent in October, its sixth consecutive monthly decline, StatCan said.
"The October jobs report is very much consistent with an economy that is still grinding out modest growth, and wage gains that are slightly hot for comfort," Doug Porter, chief economist at BMO Capital Markets, wrote in a note.
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