​Statistics Canada scheduled to unveil jobs numbers for November - BNN

Canada’s labor market blew past expectations in November as the end of income support programs helped fuel new hiring.

Employment rose 153,700 last month, Statistics Canada reported Friday in Ottawa. That’s more than quadruple the 37,500 gain economists were predicting, according to the median estimate in a Bloomberg survey. 

The numbers show how close the nation’s economy is to full employment at a time when businesses are raising worries about labor shortages and policy makers are considering ways to cool the recovery down. 

The Canadian dollar rose, up 0.3 per cent to $1.2765 per U.S. dollar at 9:08 a.m. in Toronto. Yields on two-year government bonds were up 6 basis points to 1.03 per cent.

The unemployment rate fell to 6 per cent -- very near pre-pandemic levels -- from 6.7 per cent in October. Employment is now 186,000 jobs beyond where it was in February 2020. Hours worked rose 0.7 per cent, fully recouping COVID losses for the first time.

November’s gains reflect large numbers of people exiting unemployment ranks after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government terminated its key support program for individuals in October. Unemployment levels fell by 122,000 last month, versus 56,200 in October. Much of that decline were people who were out of a job for 52 weeks or more.

“We warned the risks were toward a much stronger report as pandemic support programs ended in late October -- and that’s exactly what we got,” Benjamin Reitzes, Canadian rates and macro strategist at Bank of Montreal, said by email.

November’s report marks the sixth straight month of job gains, and will cement expectations that interest rates are poised to increase. Markets are pricing in five Bank of Canada interest rate hikes next year. 

The gains were nearly evenly split between part-time and full time, with growth led by the private sector. The services sector accounted for a majority of new positions, led by health care, retail trade and professional services. Manufacturing was responsible for all the job gains in the goods-producing sector. 

“Labor markets are tightening sharply, and that positions the Bank of Canada to hike earlier than we had expected,” Royce Mendes, an economist at Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, said by email.

The survey results didn’t capture the impacts of the severe flooding that occurred in British Columbia, according to Statistics Canada.

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​Statistics Canada scheduled to unveil jobs numbers for November - BNN
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