Canada unemployment holds at 6.8% in July

The U.S. economy created a net of 215,000 jobs in July, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported on Friday.

Canada’s unemployment rate remained unchanged at 6.8 percent for a sixth consecutive month in July, the government statistical agency said Friday.

The Canadian jobs report comes out more or less as expected: 6.6K jobs gained, marginally above expectations. Meanwhile, that means fewer jobs for those of us in the rising generation- a term coined by Mark Levin to better describe millennials.

“This jobs report is being closely watched by the Federal Reserve as one of the last two job reports before their September meeting”, Trulia Chief Economist Selma Hepp said. Manufacturing jobs increased slightly in July by 0.7 per cent but also declined by 2.3 per cent compared with July 2014.

It also says men aged 25 to 54 accounted for most of the gains while there was little change among other demographic groups such as women and youth. Average hourly earnings increased by 5 cents to $24.99, after remaining flat from May to June.

Employment in food services and drinking places continued to trend up in July with 29,000 new workers.

Together with the addition of 210K private jobs, the extension of the mean work span of all workers to 34.6 hours boosted total hours worked by 0.5% last month, leaving July’s result a solid 2.7% annualized above the spring-quarter average.

With higher rates in the U.S. and Canada’s key overnight lending rate at nearly an historic low, the loonie could suffer more downward pressure heading into fall.

“This is the first time that construction has shown any kind of weakness at all”, said Elliott. The overall U.S. unemployment rate, which is based on a separate BLS survey, didn’t move, and still stands at 5.3 percent, the lowest rate in more than seven years.

Windsor had the second highest jobless rate, behind Montreal at 8.9 per cent. St. John, N.B. ranked third with a rate of 8.2 per cent.