Canada's job market bounced back in January following an unexpectedly weak December, adding 29,000 jobs and sending the unemployment rate down to 7 per cent, from the prior reading of 7.2 per cent, StatsCan said Friday.
For the second month in a row, the U.S. unemployment rate was below that of Canada, something that had previously not been seen for some five years. The U.S. unemployment rate fell to 6.6 per cent in January even though the economy added a weaker-than-expected 116,000 jobs, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reports.
Canada added some 50,500 full-time jobs in January, but that was partially offset by losses in part-time jobs.
StatsCan noted that Canada increased the number of jobs by 0.8 per cent over the past year, which is not enough to keep up with population growth. The employment rate -- the percentage of the population with a job -- fell 0.3 percentage points, to 61.6 per cent.
From The Canadian Press:
Canada's national unemployment rate was 7.0 per cent in January. Here's what happened provincially (previous month in brackets):
Newfoundland 12.0 (10.8)
Prince Edward Island 11.3 (11.6)
Nova Scotia 8.6 (9.2)
New Brunswick 9.9 (9.7)
Quebec 7.5 (7.7)
Ontario 7.5 (7.9)
Manitoba 5.6 (5.5)
Saskatchewan 4.3 (3.9)
Alberta 4.6 (4.8)
British Columbia 6.4 (6.6)
Here are the seasonally adjusted, three-month moving average unemployment rates for major cities. StatsCan cautions the figures may fluctuate widely because they are based on small statistical samples. (Previous month in brackets.)
St. John's, N.L. 5.6 (5.9)
Halifax 6.8 (6.9)
Moncton, N.B. 7.0 (7.6)
Saint John, N.B. 6.4 (6.8)
Saguenay, Que. 7.5 (7.3)
Quebec 4.3 (4.7)
Sherbrooke, Que. 7.1 (7.0)
Trois-Rivieres, Que. 8.7 (8.3)
Montreal 7.9 (8.0)
Gatineau, Que. 6.8 (7.0)
Ottawa 6.3 (6.0)
Kingston, Ont. 6.6 (6.1)
Peterborough, Ont. 7.5 (6.0)
Oshawa, Ont. 7.2 (7.0)
Toronto 8.4 (8.5)
Hamilton, Ont. 6.0 (6.6)
St. Catharines-Niagara, Ont. 8.8 (8.9)
Kitchener-Cambridge-Waterloo, Ont. 6.4 (6.2)
Brantford, Ont. 5.9 (5.1)
Guelph, Ont. 7.3 (7.7)
London, Ont. 7.9 (7.7)
Windsor, Ont. 6.9 (7.7)
Barrie, Ont. 6.2 (5.2)
Sudbury, Ont. 6.8 (6.8)
Thunder Bay, Ont. 5.7 (5.8)
Winnipeg 5.8 (5.8)
Regina 4.4 (4.3)
Saskatoon 4.3 (4.2)
Calgary 4.8 (4.7)
Edmonton 5.5 (5.5)
Kelowna, B.C. 7.3 (7.0)
Abbotsford, B.C. 8.0 (7.9)
Vancouver 6.3 (6.4)
Victoria 4.9 (4.5)
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