Canada‘s economy shed a net 30,600 jobs in both full- and part-time employment in July. The unemployment rate stayed at a historic low of 4.9 percent.
Media-reported analysts predicted that there would be 20,000 more jobs created in July and that the unemployment rate would rise to 5.0 percent.
“Overall, it’s only a minor letdown. Although it seems like employment growth was slowing generally, this is undoubtedly less than anticipated.”
“Whether this slowdown is primarily caused by supply or demand is a question in my opinion. In other words, we did experience a further decline in the labor force participation rate this month, and I think it noteworthy that the majority of the weakening was in the hospital and educational sectors.”
“However, the key lesson to be learned from this is that there is still a severe shortage of jobs. The unemployment rate is still at its lowest point in at least 50 years, and pay growth is brisk. However, from a growth perspective, the truth is that it is difficult for firms to obtain workers, which restrains economic growth.”
“This data is consistent with our expectation that the Bank of Canada would decrease the rate of rate increases in upcoming sessions. I don’t think the situation is weak enough to stop rate increases just yet. Based on today’s figures, I would say we are comfortable with the decision we made to increase the rate by 50 basis points in September.”
Employment fell for a second consecutive month in Canada in July, yet the jobless rate remained historically low, which caused some people to scratch their heads.
“Unusually, job losses were concentrated in the wholesale and retail, education, and health sectors of the services industry. Since some of those industries have significant vacancy rates, it suggests that labor supply rather than demand is the main problem. Nevertheless, the unexpected slowdown in pay growth between today’s report and last month’s is the main distinction between the two.”
The Bank of Canada will probably emphasize the historically low unemployment rate and ongoing robust wage growth to justify another unconventional rate hike at its next meeting, despite the fact that today’s numbers further cloud the picture for policymakers.
“Overall, it is unsatisfactory. I believe there is a much more underlying weakness this time around than there was the prior time, which was driven by self-employed.”
“The Bank of Canada won’t be hindered or thrown off course, in my opinion. I believe they are fully aware of the fact that combating inflation will cause a number of things to break, and that one of those things will be the employment market’s momentum slowing. That is the desired result.”