The national labour market remains tight
The Canadian labour market added 41,000 jobs in April, according to the national statistics agency, with the unemployment rate remaining unchanged at 5% for the fifth month in a row.
Statistics Canada said on Friday morning that the April employment figures, which were up 6,000 from March, were bolstered by gains in part-time work – mainly in the wholesale and retail trade industries.
Increases in those sectors helped counterbalance losses in business, building, and other support services, while full-time employment also held steady in April.
Average hourly wages rose by 5.2% on a yearly basis in a further sign of the labour market’s resilience, with wage growth now above the annual rate of inflation (4.3% in March).
That could have significant ramifications for the Bank of Canada’s approach on interest rates for the remainder of the year. The central bank has indicated that persistent wage growth could push prices upwards and complicate its task of returning inflation to its target level of 2%.
The unemployment rate, meanwhile, continues to hover around near-historic lows, slightly above the 4.9% record that arrived last summer.
April’s employment figures mark a second consecutive monthly increase in jobs added nationally. Thirty-five thousand (35,000) jobs were created in March, up from 22,000 in February and well below the January bombshell of 150,000 new jobs added.
