OTTAWA (Reuters) – Canada’s economy added a net 63,800 jobs in September, more than tripling expectations, while the jobless rate stayed at 5.5%, Statistics Canada data showed on Friday.
Analysts polled by Reuters had forecast a net gain of 20,000 jobs and for the unemployment rate to edge up to 5.6% from 5.5% in August.
The average hourly wage for permanent employees rose 5.3% from September 2022, up from the 5.2% annual rise in August.
The acceleration in wage growth is likely to worry the central bank, which has stressed that it will be hard to fully curb inflation if wages maintain their current patterns of rising between 4% and 5% annually.
Canada’s labor market, supported by strong immigration, has been resilient even as the Bank of Canada raised its key overnight rate 10 times since March 2022 to cool the economy.
“The upward trend in employment continues to occur in the context of the highest rate of population growth since 1957,” Statscan said, noting that the population aged 15 and older increased by 82,000 in September.
With September’s robust gains, the economy is averaging 30,000 monthly employment growth this year, up from 25,000 a month earlier.
Part-time employment growth, which has been outpacing a rise in full-time work this year, drove the gains in August with a net 48,000 positions added in the month, Statscan said.
Employment in services sector increased by a net 74,300 jobs, mostly in educational services, and more than offset 10,500 positions lost in the goods sector.
(Reporting by Ismail Shakil in Ottawa; Editing by Dale Smith)
