Canada’s Job Market Had Strong Momentum In January And February

Although the Canadian economy may be in a slowing mode this year, somehow the job market never got the message.

Canadian employment expanded for a second consecutive month this year, up by 56,000 in February and 67,000 jobs in January. The latest monthly gain was primarily in full-time work. The unemployment rate remained unchanged at 5.8% in February and the labor force participation rate rose 0.2 percentage points to 65.8%.

In fact, Canada has now experienced six consecutive months of job increases even though the overall economy was clearly slowing down.

In addition, wage inflation is starting to pick up and the fact that February’s job creation was tilted towards the private sector and full-time positions is also very encouraging. Nonetheless, it must be underscored that the economy is slowing, a fact that has been acknowledged by the Bank of Canada.

In terms of the job mix, there were 67,400 full-time jobs created in February while part-time employment declined by 11,600. The private sector led the way in February, adding nearly 32,000 new jobs, while the public sector added 9000 and there were 15,000 new self-employed workers.

For the third month in a row, it was Ontario (+36.900) and Quebec (+14.900) that drove the employment gains in February. Wages also accelerated in February, rising 2.2% y/y compared to 1.8% in January.

Over a twelve-month time period total employment expanded by a robust 369,000 or 2%, reflecting increases in both full- (+266,000) and part-time (+103,000) employment. Over the same period, total hours worked were virtually unchanged.

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