Canada’s unemployment rate dips for first time since 2022: StatsCan
February 12, 2024
Canada’s job market added 37,300 jobs in January, StatsCan reported Friday, marking the first unemployment decrease since 2022.
In the same month, wage growth saw a slight decrease.
The decrease in unemployment is mostly due to less people seeking jobs, the report said: the participation rate (the number of working-age people who are employed) fell two points to 65.5%, from 65.5% in December.
The results surprised analysts who had predicted an unemployment increase to 5.9%, Reuters reported.
However, the results should be taken with a grain of salt, says Brendon Bernard, senior economist at Indeed.
“The Canadian labour market kicked off 2024 in familiar fashion, continuing its gradual, but not dramatic cooling,” Bernard said in an email to HR Reporter.
“The result was a fourth consecutive downtick in the overall employment rate. The unemployment rate ticked down slightly, but only because of a slip in labour force participation. The still low jobless rate suggests the labour market is in decent shape for now, but the way things have evolved isn’t great.”
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