Canada’s unemployment rate ticked higher again in August as the labour market continues to cool.
Statistics Canada said Friday that the unemployment rate rose to 6.6 per cent amid a gain of 22,000 net jobs. The increase reflected gains in part-time work but declines in full-time jobs.
That’s up from 6.4 per cent in July, when the economy shed a few thousand jobs.
The national unemployment rate now stands at its highest point since May 2017, according to StatCan, outside the pandemic years.
Canada’s jobless rate has continued to rise despite largely continuing to add positions as rapid population growth grows the overall labour pool.
StatCan noted that students in particular faced a difficult summer job market. The unemployment rate among students returning to school in the fall was 16.7 per cent, the highest level since 2012, excluding the pandemic.
One sector continuing to see growth in August was the health care and social assistance market. In the preceding year, this sector added 157,000 positions, which StatCan says accounts for nearly half of all job growth in the country over that period.
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Educational services also added jobs in August, offset by losses in professional, scientific and technical services as well as “other services,” which StatCan says includes personal and repair work.
Average hourly wages rose 5.0 per cent in August, the agency says, down slightly from 5.2 per cent the month before.
The latest read of the Canadian labour market comes two days after the Bank of Canada delivered its third consecutive interest rate cut, lowering borrowing costs in an effort to relieve some pressure on the economy.
Fresh labour data released in the United States on Friday also comes a couple weeks before forecasters expect the U.S. Federal Reserve to kick off its own easing cycle.
Employers added 142,000 jobs last month, up from a scant 89,000 in July, the Labor Department said Friday. The unemployment rate ticked down to 4.2 per cent from 4.3 per cent in July, which had been the highest level in nearly three years.
Friday’s mixed report on the job market raises the question of how large a cut the Fed will announce after it meets Sept. 17-18. The central bank could reduce its benchmark rate by a typical quarter-point or by a larger-than-usual half-point. Wall Street traders now foresee a roughly 50-50 likelihood of either scenario, according to futures prices.
— with files from the Associated Press
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