Canada’s labour market topped expectations in June amid a surprise surge in hiring.
Statistics Canada said Friday that the unemployment rate dropped a tenth of a percentage point to 6.9 per cent in June as the economy added some 83,000 jobs.
The vast majority of those jobs were part-time, the agency said, with 47,000 positions added in the private sector.
A Reuters poll of economists heading into Friday’s release had expected the jobless rate would rise to 7.1 per cent in June as employment levels held flat.
The June figures buck the recent slowdown in the labour market. Last month was the first significant job gain since January and snapped a streak of three consecutive months where the unemployment rate rose.
The wholesale and retail trade industry led growth with 34,000 new positions, followed by healthcare and social assistance with 17,000 jobs added. Only the agriculture sector faced notable job losses with 6,000 positions shed, StatCan said, while other industries saw little change.
Even the manufacturing sector, which has faced job losses in recent months amid Canada’s tariff dispute with the United States, saw a gain of 10,000 positions in June.
Tariff pressures are continuing to bite in trade-heavy markets like Windsor, Ont., which StatCan noted has the highest unemployment rate of all census metropolitan areas at 11.2 per cent. Alberta, Manitoba, Ontario and Quebec all posted job growth in June.
The unemployment rate for returning students – those heading back to school in the fall – remained elevated at 17.4 per cent in June. That’s up from 15.8 per cent in the same month last year but down slightly from 20.1 per cent in May, which marked the start of the summer jobs season.
The Bank of Canada will be parsing the labour figures closely as it prepares for its next interest rate decision on July 30.
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