Canada posted its first employment drop in seven months, ending an unusually strong run of job gains.
Employment fell by 7,200 in March, mostly full-time positions in the services sector, Statistics Canada said Friday in Ottawa. Economists had forecast employers would add 6,000 jobs.
Statistically, the decline is considered a flat reading. The country’s jobless rate was unchanged at 5.8 per cent.
It was only a matter of time before Canada’s jobs market cooled after a sharp rise in employment in recent months, particularly as other indicators have showed a much weaker picture.
Canada’s economy had added 290,000 jobs between August and February, the largest six-month increase since 2002. Those gains however were out of line with other indicators that showed production stalling at the end of last year, in part because of falling oil prices.
The strong performance of the jobs market up to now has been one of the reasons why the Bank of Canada has stuck to its belief the economy will rebound later this year.
Labour force numbers, which had been rising strongly along with jobs, also declined slightly in March, down by 11,300.
The employment decrease in March was driven by a 17,300 drop in private-sector jobs, with public sector employment up slightly last month. Health-care and accommodation led the job losses. Among provinces, Quebec and Ontario saw the largest declines, with combined losses of 21,700.
The labour market continues to improve in one respect: annual hourly wage gains accelerated to 2.4 per cent in March,the fastest annual gain since September, up from 2.3 per cent in February.
Pay gains for permanent employees rose to 2.3 per cent, the strongest increase since August.Total hours worked also picked up in March, increasing by 0.9 per cent annually, after a drop of 0.1 per cent the previous month.
Bloomberg.com
