After two months of strong job gains (or not), Canada lost 10,700 jobs in November, StatsCan data shows, and the unemployment rate rose a notch to 6.6. per cent.
Ontario led the way on job losses, losing 34,000 jobs in the month. The province's unemployment rate shot up to 7 per cent, from 6.5 per cent a month earlier.
Job growth has fizzled in the energy-exporting provinces. The natural resources sector shed 10,500 jobs in the month. Saskatchewan lost 3,900 jobs, though its unemployment rate fell a notch to 3.4 per cent, and employment was little changed in Alberta.
That's a major turnaround from earlier this year, when the province was showing job growth above 3 per cent per year. With jobs flatlining for the month, job growth over the past year shrank to 2.2 per cent. Employment was little changed in British Columbia as well.
Some of those losses were offset by Quebec (up 20,000 jobs), and by Newfoundland, which bucked the flatlining trend in energy. Jobs in the province grew by 3,100.
Meanwhile, the U.S. economy churned out an impressive 321,000 jobs in November, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics said Friday. That's the largest one-month increase in nearly three years. The U.S. jobless rate held steady at 5.8 per cent.
The Canadian Press reports:
Looking back over the last 12 months, the federal agency found there were 146,000 net new jobs across the country.
The market lost 45,600 private-sector jobs last month and added 22,600 positions in the public sector. Meanwhile, the number of self-employed workers moved up by 12,300 jobs.
By industry, retail and wholesale trade lost 41,600 jobs in November, while there were 32,900 fewer positions in professional, scientific and technical services. But even with these declines, both sectors had changed little over the past year.
The youth unemployment rate for November increased by 0.4 percentage points to 13 per cent, but the survey found 56,400 more young people were working compared to the year before.
Canada's national unemployment rate was 6.6 per cent in November. Here's what happened provincially (previous month in brackets):
— Newfoundland 10.7 (12.0)
— Prince Edward Island 10.5 (9.2)
— Nova Scotia 8.8 (8.6)
— New Brunswick 9.6 (9.3)
— Quebec 7.6 (7.7)
— Ontario 7.0 (6.5)
— Manitoba 5.1 (5.0)
— Saskatchewan 3.4 (3.5)
— Alberta 4.5 (4.5)
— British Columbia 5.8 (6.1)
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