The national unemployment rate saw its largest increase in a decade
Canadians’ purchasing prospects and the national economic outlook seem a bit murkier as employment unexpectedly weakened for a second-straight month – indeed, the largest labour market decline since 2009.
Late last week, Statistics Canada reported that the economy suffered the loss of 71,200 jobs in November, dwarfing the decline of 1,800 in the preceding month. This brought the total number of jobs added this year down to roughly 285,100.
Unemployment went up to 5.9%, from the 5.5% in October. This was also the largest monthly gain since 2009.
“Canada’s jobs report is disappointing, showing job losses for the second month in a row,” ZipRecruiter labour economist Julia Pollak told BNN Bloomberg.
However, Pollak stated that these developments need to be placed in the proper perspective, as “observers should remember that the numbers are highly volatile and that this is still the strongest year for job growth in Canada in 17 years.”
Among the most important indicators are earnings: Wages for permanent employees grew by a healthy 4.4% annually, keeping pace with the October growth.
Also, a more active national residential market will help boost the economy’s prospects further down the line. During Q3 2019, Canadian residential investment grew at its fastest rate since 2012, with an annualized pace of 13.3%.
Non-residential business investment also more than compensated for second-quarter losses, with spending on non-residential structures and machinery up by 9.5%.
These led to a 3.2% increase in overall domestic demand, “fully rebounding from a very weak second quarter when consumption slowed and investment contracted,” according to a Bloomberg analysis.
