Statistics
Canada informed on Friday that the number of employed people fell by 2,200
m-o-m in March (or -0.0 per cent
m-o-m) after an unrevised increase of 40,700
m-o-m in the previous month. This
marked the first monthly decrease in
Canada’s employment since July 2023 (-4,900).
Economists had expected
a gain of 25,000 m-o-m.
Meanwhile,
Canada's unemployment rate jumped to 6.1 per cent in March from
an unrevised 5.8 per cent in the previous month, exceeding economists’ forecast of 5.9 per cent. That
represented the highest rate since January 2022 (6.5 per cent).
According to
the report, full-time employment decreased by 700 (or -0.0 per cent m-o-m) in March, while part-time jobs dropped by 1,600
(or -0.0 per cent m-o-m).
Over the month,
the number of public sector employees rose by
11,900 (or +0.3 per cent m-o-m), while the number of private sector employees increased
by 15,200 (or +0.1 per cent m-o-m). At the
same time, the number of self-employed declined by 29,300 (or -1.1 per cent
m-o-m).
Sector-wise,
employment climbed in the goods-producing industry (+29.900, or +0.7 per cent
m-o-m) but fell in the services-producing business (-32,000, or -0.2 per cent
m-o-m).
The average hourly wages surged 5.0 per cent
y-o-y (or +CAD1.71) to CAD35.58 in March, accelerating from
a 4.9 per cent y-o-y gain in February.