Canada’s Unemployment Higher But Job Creation Beats Expectations

Despite the jobless rate trending higher to 7.8 percent in January from December’s 7.6 percent, the Canadian economy created four times the number of new jobs than predicted. Employment rose by 69,200 but the number of people looking for jobs jumped by 106,400. Nevertheless, the news was greeted by economists as further evidence that Canada’s economy will perform well in the new year.

“This adds confidence to the notion we are headed for a better year for growth and growth in the job market,” said Mark Chandler, head of Canadian currency and rates strategy at Royal Bank of Canada’s RBC Capital Markets unit in Toronto. “There isn’t a lot of slack in the labor market in Canada, certainly on a relative basis to other countries.”

Source: Bloomberg