The Canadian economy lost 51,000 full -time jobs in July, and most of the losses concerned the private sector, noted Statistics Canada.
The net loss of 41,000 jobs in July has partially counterbalanced the unexpected increase in 83,000 jobs recorded in June.
In Quebec, employment remained stable in July, after having increased by 23,000 in June. The unemployment rate has decreased by 0.8 percentage points, to be 5.5 %, which Statistics Canada attributes to a drop in the number of people in search of work.
Economists expected a slight increase in employment before Friday publication.
Doug Porter, chief economist at the BMO, said in a note to its customers that the July employment report was the lowest in three years, according to the bank bulletin.
He noted that the total number of hours worked had decreased by 0.2 % in July, marking a bad start of the third quarter for the Canadian economy.
“This is a clearly low report […]even if he closely follows a clearly positive report, ”said Doug Porter.
Leslie Preston, main economist at the TD bank, said in a note that employment figures are often volatile in the survey of the working population, but that the unemployment rate is “the key indicator to be monitored”.
“The unemployment rate has remained stable, but, as is due to a drop in labor market participation, this is not a very positive sign,” she said. We plan that the stagnation of the growth of the active population will continue, which will prevent the unemployment rate from increasing too high, despite the low demand for labor. »»
Young workers, in particular, have continued to face a difficult context on the summer job market.
Young people aged 15 to 24 lost 34,000 jobs last month, while the employment rate for this age group fell to 53.6 %-its lowest level since November 1998, if the period marked by the Pandemic of Covid-19 is excluded.
Several affected sectors
The decline of employment at the national level has manifested itself in several economic sectors, including information, culture and leisure (-29,000) and construction (-22,000).
These losses have been partially offset by an increase of 26,000 jobs in transport and storage, marking the first increase in the number of jobs in this sector since January.
As for the manufacturing industry, which is particularly vulnerable to the consequences of American customs duties, the increase in employment has been modest for a second consecutive month (+5300). Employment in the manufacturing sector is still down 9,400 from one year to the next.
Statistics Canada noted that the rate of dismissal – the proportion of persons employed in June, but dismissed in July – remained practically unchanged at 1.1 % compared to the same month last year, despite the uncertainty linked to trade and customs duties.
The Federal Agency said, however, that many people looking for a job are struggling to find a position.
Of the 1.6 million people unemployed in July, 23.8 % were unemployed long-term, that is to say that they have been looking for a job for 27 weeks or more. According to Statistics Canada, this is the highest long -term unemployment rate since February 1998, excluding the pandemic.
The average hourly salary increased by 3.3 % on an annual basis in July, a slight increase compared to June.
The Bank of Canada will assess the vigor of the labor market in anticipation of its next decision on the key rate scheduled for September 17.
The central bank left its key rate unchanged to 2.75 % in its decision last week.
The main economist of CIBC Bank, Andrew Grantham, said on Friday in a note that the figures of employment “weaker than expected” justify his request for a quarter of a quarter at the September meeting of the Bank of Canada.
The central bank will examine another series of employment data for the month of August, as well as reports on inflation and a quarterly update of GDP before its next decision.
