The economy also added more jobs than expected
Canada’s unemployment rate remained unchanged in August, staying at 5.5% and marking the first time for three months that the jobless rate has not increased.
Statistics Canada said on Friday that the economy added 40,000 jobs last month, spurred by increases in professional, scientific and technical services that were offset by losses in education services and manufacturing.
That represented a larger gain than expected by most observers, with analysts polled by Reuters having anticipated a net increase of 15,000 jobs in August and a marginal jump in the unemployment rate to 5.6%.
Average hourly wage growth also ticked up once again, rising in August by 4.9% on a year-over-year basis and falling by 0.1% compared with the previous month.
The Bank of Canada saw enough evidence that the economy was slowing sufficiently to justify leaving its benchmark interest rate unchanged on Wednesday, although it indicated that it would be closely watching the inflation rate and labour market trends as it weighs up whether to hike again in October.
BMO chief economist Doug Porter said in a research note following the release of August’s job figures that the new report “likely doesn’t move the needle much” on the Bank of Canada’s thinking.
“It’s not strong enough to prompt an immediate rethink on the pause, but it’s also certainly not soft enough to rule out further hikes,” he said.
