The Canadian economy added 79,000 jobs in December, ahead of analysts’ expectations and lowering the country’s unemployment rate to 5.7%, its lowest level since 1976.
The unemployment data, released in Ottawa by Statistics Canada, shows that Canada’s jobless rate is now at its lowest level since comparable data became available 42-years ago. Economists polled by Bloomberg News had expected a flat jobs report for December, with only about 2,000 jobs added.
But the Statistics Canada data shows that every province in Canada added jobs during December, with half of the new jobs coming in Alberta and Quebec. Each of those two provinces added more than 26,000 jobs during the final month of 2017.
"Quebec was probably the most compelling story throughout the year, with job growth running strong and the unemployment rate plunging to a record low of 4.9%," Bank of Montreal economist Robert Kavcic wrote in a note to clients.
The Canadian dollar rose sharply on the jobs news, gaining almost three-quarters of a cent to change hands at 80.74 cents U.S. shortly after the numbers came out at 8:30 a.m. Eastern time on Friday. The strength of the report also prompted investors to peg the odds of an interest rate hike by the Bank of Canada later in January at about 70%, up from 50% previously.
December's jobs figures bring a close to the economic data for Canada in 2017, which ended up being Canada's best year for job creation since 2002, with a total of 423,000 jobs added during the year. Most of the new jobs in December were part-time, but for the year as a whole, the vast majority — 394,000 jobs — were in full-time work.
There was also encouraging news about Canadian wages in December. Average hourly earnings in Canada climbed 2.7% in December from the previous year, and wage gains for permanent employees accelerated to 2.9% from 2.7% in November.
