Canada’s employment market appears to be back to square one. Instead of a 10,000 gain in jobs last month, as expected by economists, Statistics Canada has delivered a loss of 11,000 positions. The drop in August came after an increase of 42,000 jobs the previous month, which corrected an incorrect gain of 200 positions for that month due to technical errors. The unemployment rate, however, was unchanged in August at 7%.

Statistics Canada said both full-time and part-time positions were down marginally in August, with almost all of the 112,000 losses coming in the private sector. Data for self-employment showed the only significant movement, registering an increase of 86,900 during the month.

By sector, goods producing jobs rose by only 10,000 overall, as gains of 24,400 in construction were offset by a drop of 11,000 jobs in manufacturing and 2,100 in natural resources industries. In August, the services sector lost 21,000 jobs while 26,500 jobs were lost in trade industries. Transportation and housing payrolls fell by 14,700, while there was a 13,500 decline in the number of people employed by finance, insurance real estate and leasing operations. Information, culture and recreation outlets shed 10,600 positions and workers in educational services were down by 7,100.

Meanwhile, professional, scientific and technical services added 21,300 to their payrolls, and public administration increased by 20,500 last month, while accommodation and food services gained 6,900.

The Canadian dollar weakened against most of its major peers after the jobs report, bolstering the case the central bank made earlier this week for waiting to raise interest rates.

Source: Financial Post