OTTAWA
Canada’s unemployment rate rose to 6.7 percent in October as the economy lost 4,700 jobs, Statistics Canada reported on Friday.
The increase from 6.5 percent in September came as more people were looking for work.
“For anyone hoping that October would bring a recovery in the Canadian job market after back-to-back negative surprises, today’s release is a disappointment,” said Sneha Puri, an economist with jobs search site Indeed.
The labour market has shed 110,000 jobs cumulatively across September and August.
Economists polled by Reuters had expected a gain of 13,600 jobs in October.
Private sector employment fell by 53,000 positions last month, marking the first decline in the segment since February.
Employment in the public sector, meanwhile, was up 50,000 positions.
On a year-over-year basis, private sector jobs are still up while the public sector is down, StatCan noted.
The unemployment rate for young workers aged 15 to 24 jumped to 13.7 percent in October, up 0.7 percentage points from September.
StatCan said the unemployment rate was higher for students compared with youth not attending school.
Employment in the wholesale and retail trade industry led losses in October, shedding 29,000 roles.
Transportation and warehousing and food and accommodation also posted losses last month, offset by some gains in construction and education.
Average hourly wages rose 2.2 percent annually in October, edging down from 2.3 percent in September.
StatCan said the layoff rate, the proportion of people employed in September who were laid off by October, was “virtually unchanged” compared with a year earlier at 0.7 percent.
Puri said Indeed’s job postings ticked up at the end of last month, which could be an indication of future hiring.
If Canada can gain clarity on U.S. trade policy in the wake of the midterm elections this week, she said that could give employers the confidence to hire again.
“If this optimism isn’t then translated into a strong jobs report in the months ahead, the surprising weakness in headline employment will start to look less temporary and more like the beginning of a renewed cooling in the labour market,” Puri warned.
The October job figures come a little over a week after the Bank of Canada delivered its first interest rate hike in more than three years.
Thomas Ryan, senior North America economist at Capital Economics, said in a note to clients that the uptick in the unemployment rate and muted wage growth should tell the Bank of Canada that there’s still slack in the job market right now.
“Ultimately, this adds to our conviction that the bank will hike rates no more than twice more as a precaution against upside inflation risks, before calling it a day,” Ryan said.
This story was written by the e2gold.ca newsroom from reporting by BNN Bloomberg and CTV News. Quotes are checked word for word against that reporting.