The economy took a bit of a breather last month, with job creation falling short of where Canadians would like it to be, according to figures released this morning by Statistics Canada.
Experts at RBC Economics noted that Canadian employment inched up by 1,800 in October, weaker than the consensus forecast for a 10,000 job increase but in line with RBC's call for a smaller 5,000 gain. This followed two months of large gains. In October, the labour force increased by 18,000 resulting in the unemployment rate holding steady at 7.4%. Jobs created were in the public sector with private sector employment falling by 20,300 in the month.
On an industry basis service sector hiring rose by 21,000 while the goods-producing industries fell by 19,300. In the goods producing sector, a sharp drop in agriculture and utilities overshadowed small gains in construction and manufacturing. The goods industries have cut back in four of the past five months with losses totaling 56,00 from May's recent peak.
In the services sector, it was mixed bag with gains in education services, other services and public administration. Declines were recorded in transportation and warehousing, health care and accommodation and food services.
The split between full-time and part-time jobs favoured full-time this month which rose by 7,300 with part-time jobs falling by 5,500. This continued the trend of the previous 12 months with 240,000 full time jobs created while there were 11,300 fewer part-time jobs. Average hourly wages for permanent workers were up 3.9% in October compared to a year earlier although the number of hours worked eased by 0.3%.
On a regional basis, employment increased in Quebec and Newfoundland and Labrador but fell in B.C. and Manitoba. Alberta continued to have the lowest unemployment rate even though it edged up by 0.1% to 4.5%. Saskatchewan's unemployment rate held steady at 4.7% with Ontario's rate popping up to 8.3% from 7.9% as employment fell by 9,900 while the labour force increased by 15,500.
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