Statistics
Canada informed on Friday that the number of employed people jumped by 90,900
m-o-m in December 2024 (or +0.4 per cent m-o-m)
after an unrevised increase of 50,500
m-o-m in November 2024. This marked the strongest
advance in Canada’s employment since
January 2023 (+109,600).
Economists had predicted
a rise of 25,000 m-o-m.
Meanwhile,
Canada's unemployment rate slipped to 6.7 per cent in December from an unrevised
6.8 per cent in the previous
month, below economists’ forecast of 6.9 per cent. This was the second-highest rate
since September 2021 (6.9 per cent).
According to
the report, full-time employment increased by 57,500 (or +0.3 per cent m-o-m) in December, while part-time jobs rose by 33,500
(or +0.9 per cent m-o-m).
Over the month,
the number of public sector employees climbed by
40,400 (or +0.9 per cent m-o-m), while the number of private sector employees jumped
by 26,700 (or +0.2 per cent m-o-m). At the
same time, the number of self-employed soared by 23,700 (or +0.9 per cent m-o-m).
Sector-wise, employment improved
in both goods-producing (+22,500, or +0.5 per cent m-o-m) and
services-producing (+68,400, or +0.4 per cent m-o-m) industries.
The average
hourly wages grew by 3.7 per cent
y-o-y (or +CAD1.31) to CAD36.64 in December, easing from a 3.9 per cent y-o-y increase in November.
Statistics
Canada also noted that 2024 ended with 413,000 (+2.0 per cent) more
people working in December compared with 12 months earlier. This y-o-y growth
rate was comparable to the one seen in December 2023 (+2.1 per cent) and to the
average growth rate for December over the pre-COVID-19 pandemic period of 2017
to 2019 (+1.9 per cent).