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Canada’s job market made solid gains in October, reversing previous declines and outperforming expectations and its unemployment rate fell, data showed on Friday.
Statistics Canada said the economy added a total of 66,600 jobs in October after gaining 60,400 jobs in the previous month, helping to offset most of the job losses recorded in July and August.
All of the gains in October were in the part-time workers category where employment increased by 85,000 people.
StatsCan said full-time employment fell by 18,500 people and all the gains were concentrated in the private sector, the first increase since June.
It said the unemployment rate, which is at a nine-year high outside the pandemic, fell from 7.1% in September to 6.9% in October.
Analysts polled by Reuters had forecast an unemployment rate of 7.1% and predicted the economy would lose 2,500 jobs in October.
Canada’s economic growth potential has been diminished as many regional tariffs have resulted in the loss of jobs in the steel and automotive sectors, while affecting hiring in other related sectors.
This has been particularly evident in jobs prospects for youth, with the unemployment rate hitting a 15-year high in September.
But there was a sharp U-turn for youth employment in October. Unemployment among youth, or those aged 15 to 24, fell to 14.1% from 14.7% last month.
The statistics agency said it was the first decline in the youth unemployment rate since February.
Employment among the key age group – 25 to 54 years – which accounts for two-thirds of the labor force, saw a healthy growth of 38,800 jobs.
Employment numbers are generally highly volatile and subject to large swings.
StatsCan said the industry groups that contributed the most to job gains included wholesale and retail, transportation and warehousing.
Canadian employment is mainly divided between the service sector and the goods sector, with four out of every five people working in the service sector.
Retail and wholesale, a part of the service sector, is the largest employer in the country, with about 15% of the workforce employed in this industry. Jobs of 40,700 people increased in this sector.
The average hourly wages of permanent employees – a gauge closely tracked by the Bank of Canada to gauge inflation trends – saw an increase and rose by 4.0% in October from 3.6% in September.
The good jobs numbers helped the Canadian dollar, which rose 0.36% against the US dollar to trade at 1.4065, or 71.10 US cents. Yields on two-year government bonds rose 4.6 basis points to 2.405%.
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