Canada's jobless rate climbed 0.3 percentage points to 6.4 per cent in July as the country shed 5,500 jobs and more people entered the labour force, Statistics Canada said Friday.
The job losses were unexpected. Analysts had been forecasting the economy would create 23,500 new jobs last month.
Economists noted that the underlying jobs story was stronger than the headline would suggest as full-time jobs grew by 21,600. The job losses came entirely in part-time work.
Employment gains were noted in construction — especially in British Columbia — and in public administration.
Manufacturing was again a weak spot, as more than 33,000 factory jobs vanished, mainly in central Canada.
That brings total job losses in manufacturing since the end of 2002 to 224,000.
Ontario's jobless rate moves above national average
Alberta continued to enjoy a jobless rate of just 3.6 per cent, the lowest in the country. So far this year, job growth in Alberta has risen at three times the national average.
Ontario's jobless rate grew 0.6 percentage points to 6.5 per cent. That figure was above the national average, which is territory Ontario usually manages to avoid.
The biggest increase came in Manitoba, where 7,000 job losses and more entrants into the work force combined to push the jobless rate up 1.1 percentage points. Even with that increase, however, that province's unemployment rate remains low at 4.7 per cent.
The highest unemployment rate continued to belong to Newfoundland and Labrador. Its jobless rate of 14.6 per cent in July marked a slight decline from June's 14.8 per cent.
Bank of Canada likely to stand pat
Friday's jobs report was the last to be issued before the Bank of Canada's next interest rate decision on Sept. 6.
Some analysts said the latest figures all but guarantee that the central bank won't be in any rush to push up rates.
"There doesn’t seem to be much doubt that the Bank [of Canada] is on hold for some time yet," said BMO Capital Markets senior economist Doug Porter.
"This report could be the last straw for any talk of further rate hikes, especially after Monday’s surprisingly sub-par GDP result for May," he wrote in a morning commentary.
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