The Canadian labor market posted its ninth consecutive month of job gains in August, its longest since the financial crisis of nine years ago.
Statistics Canada revealed Friday that last month’s rise of 22,200 jobs drove the unemployment rate down by 0.1 percentage point in Canada to 6.2%. This corresponds to the low in October 2008 before the labor market downturn in 2008-2009.
Statistics Canada reports that the increase of 110,400 people working part-time was offset by a decline of 88,100 people working full-time. Data for August show that the number of salaried employees decreased by 10,400, while the number of self-employed, including unpaid family business, increased by 32,700.
Over the 12 month period ending in August, employment grew by 2.1% in the country, with the addition of 374,000 jobs. Of these, 213,400 were full-time jobs.
The data suggest that the economy has continued its momentum after a stronger than expected start to the year. “In fact, looking back over the last twelve months, we have had remarkably strong job creation , ” said Craig Alexander, Chief Economist of the Conference Board of Canada. “The Canadian economy is showing good momentum. ”
Last month’s labor market data indicates that wages rose 1.8% over last year. This is their most pronounced growth since last October.
Ontario was the only major gain among the provinces, while employment declined in Nova Scotia. “Ontario had the best performance in Canada last month with an employment gain of 31,100. Ontario’s unemployment rate reached 5.7% in August. The reduction in the number of job seekers (-5,700), added to the growth of the job, allowed to display this score ” , underlined Joëlle Noreau, main economist at the Movement Desjardins.
