Canadian economy sheds 31000 jobs; unemployment rate rises

The provincial unemployment rate moved up 0.7 percent to 8.6 percent because of job losses throughout the month of July.

It remains lower than other major cities in the province, including Toronto (6.4%), the St. Catharines-Niagara region (7.8%), London (7.2%) and Windsor (6.2%).

In Calgary, the oil and gas capital of Canada, the unemployment rate of 8.6 per cent was the worst among 33 Canadian metropolitan areas surveyed. Edmonton’s unemployment rate of 7.7 per cent was the sixth highest.

The jobless rate rose to 6.9 per cent from 6.8 per cent in June, Statistics Canada said in its monthly labour report released on Friday.

On employment, Statistics Canada’s labour force survey said the market lost 31,200 net jobs in July, an unexpectedly steep decline that included the biggest one-month drop in full-time work in almost five years.

Calgary’s unemployment rare remained higher than Edmonton’s last month but grew more slowly to 8.6 per cent.

The U.S. unemployment rate held steady at 4.9% and the participation rate inched higher to 62.8% while the number of those considered not in the labour force fell 184,000 people to 94.3 million people.

The report says the Canadian economy lost 71,000 full time jobs in July.

“I think we’re still looking at probably a few more months of struggle before we can stabilize the economy, and see improvements in the job market”.

New numbers from Statistics Canada show Alberta’s unemployment rate has now hit its highest level since 1994 and economists say it will likely get worse before it gets better.

Combined, the job and trade. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government estimates its stimulus measures – unveiled in March and totaling about C$12 billion this year – will bolster growth by 0.5 percentage points.

British Columbia has also logged the fastest rate of growth in jobs among all provinces over the past year.

As a result, Canada’s quarterly trade deficit expanded to a record $10.7 billion in the second quarter, up from $6.4 billion in the first quarter.

– CAD Net-Change in Employment (JUN): -31.2K versus +10.0K expected, from -0.7K.