Unemployment rate steady at 5.5% in August as economy adds 40K jobs: Statistics Canada
CTV
Statistics Canada says the unemployment rate held steady at 5.5 per cent in August as the Canadian economy added 40,000 jobs.
Canada's labour market added more jobs than expected last month, holding the unemployment rate steady as economists watch for more signs of a slowdown.
The economy added 40,000 jobs, just enough to keep the unemployment rate from rising. The headline number was double the consensus expectation from economists.
Statistics Canada reported Friday the jobless rate held at 5.5 per cent in August, ending a three-month streak of rising unemployment.
"Canada's job market has been following a sawtooth pattern this year, with a soft report generally followed by a snapback, and this was the month for a minor snapback," said BMO chief economist Douglas Porter in a client note.
The decent job report bolsters financial markets' expectations that rate cuts are not imminent and even higher interest rates are a possibility.
Nevertheless, economists tend to focus more on trends in the economy, rather than one monthly report.
"You can never just solely focus on one of these employment numbers, because they are so volatile," said Andrew Grantham, CIBC's director of economics.
