Canadian jobs report for February 2021:
- Prior was -212.8K
- Full time +88.2K vs +12.6K prior
- Part time +171.0K vs -225.4K prior
- Unemployment rate 8.2% vs 9.2% expected (9.4% prior)
- Participation rate 64.7% vs 64.7% prior
- Hourly wage rate for permanent employees +4.3% vs 5.1% y/y expected
- Prior wage rate +5.9% y/y
- Long term unemployed -49K
- Retail jobs +122K
- Accommodation and food services +65K
- Total hours worked +1.4%
- Total hours worked -3.2% y/y
- Full report
That is a stunningly strong number. In particular, the drop in unemployment with a flat participation rate. There was some reopening in February and Canada's wage subsidy programs did a good job of keeping workers attached to jobs. Evidently businesses are feeling good enough to get employees right back on the job. On net, 266K jobs were lost in the prior two months and 259K were added back.
Market expectations of a Bank of Canada rate hike are moving up quickly and USD/CAD fell to 1.2511 on this.
As you can see, these were mostly low paying jobs. Statistics Canada said jobs were concentrated in those paying $17.50/hour or less and that shows up in the drop in wages.
