Canada Adds More-Than-Expected 35,300 Jobs: Key Takeaways

(Bloomberg) 

Canada produced another stellar month of job gains in October, with signs of across-the-board tightening that includes stronger wage increases and a surge in full-time employment.

Highlights of October Jobs Report

Employment increased by 35.3k (est. 15k) Full-time jobs were up 88.7k vs a 53.4k decline in part-time jobs Average hourly pay gains hit 2.4%, the fastest since April 2016 

Key Takeaways

The data reveal the expected slowing of Canada’s labor market has yet to materialize, with the biggest increase in full-time employment over the past two months on record. The report may also cast doubt on the Bank of Canada’s contention there remains a lot of slack in the labor market.

Other Details

The country added 88.7k full-time jobs in October, and 200.7k over the past two months. That’s the biggest two-month gain in records going back to 1976 The unemployment rate increased to 6.3% from 6.2% — which was the lowest since 2008 — as more people entered the labor force. The participation rate increased to 65.7% Employment for youth — an area that Bank of Canada Governor Stephen Poloz has cited as a source of slack — increased by 17.5k with the participation rate for that group up by 1 percentage point to 63.7% Hours worked rose 2.7% from a year earlier, the biggest gain since August 2011 Goods-producing industries were behind the gain in October, generating 33.9k jobs versus 1.4k jobs in services All the new jobs were in the private sector