Statistics Canada says the unemployment rate hit 6.1 per cent in March amid a loss of 2,200 jobs and a rapidly growing labour pool.
The spike in the unemployment rate – a full percentage point higher than where it stood a year ago – is tied to an additional 60,000 people looking for work or on temporary layoff in March, StatCan said. Last month the agency reported that, as of Jan. 1, Canada ’s annual population growth hit its fastest rate since 1957.The consensus of economist expectations called for 25,000 jobs gained last month and a more modest increase in the unemployment rate to 5.9 per cent.
Average hourly wages were up 5.1 per cent year-over-year, a slight acceleration from 5.0 per cent in February.The latest employment data comes days before the Bank of Canada’s next interest rate announcement, which is set for April 10.The central bank has been looking for signs that the labour market is cooling, and by extension taking some steam out of inflation, as it debates how long to keep interest rates elevated.
But economists weighing in on Friday said that the weak job report, which noted a tick down in total hours worked for March, could be a sign that Canada’s economy is set for a more pronounced slowdown.TD Bank senior economist James Orlando said in a note that the March jobs report “casts a cloud over the Canadian economy.
CIBC senior economist Andrew Grantham said in a note Friday that the “cracks that had been emerging within the Canadian labour market suddenly got a lot wider.”
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