While Canada had a net loss of jobs in January, British Columbia continued to buck the national trend, and the province’s unemployment rate dipped from 6.7% to 6.6%, Statistics Canada data announced February 5.
B.C. added 1,200 jobs in the month, and while the number of part-time jobs fell by 9,500, the province added 10,700 full-time positions. Year-over-year, B.C. experienced job growth of 2.1%, which is significantly higher than the national growth of 0.7%.
The only other province to add jobs in January was Ontario, which saw a gain of 19,800 positions.
Across the country, the data fell short of analysts’ expectations with 5,700 jobs lost in January; this partially offsets the solid gain of 23,000 positions in the previous month. The country added 5,600 full-time jobs but lost 11,300 part-time positions. In the previous 12 months, the country added 126,000 jobs, but because the labour force grew at a faster pace than job growth, the unemployment rate is up significantly—from 6.6% to 7.2%—over the year.
As expected, oil-dependent Alberta was Canada’s weak spot, as its unemployment rate grew from 7% to 7.4%. The province had a net loss of 10,000 jobs, with 21,900 full-time positions being slashed and only partially offset by an 11,900 gain in part-time jobs.
Canada’s natural resources and manufacturing sectors both experienced job losses in January, dropping 13,000 and 11,000, respectively. On the other hand, culture and recreation saw a gain of 15,800 jobs and the country added 11,300 health care positions.
“Headline jobs were below expectations, but the main point is that the Canadian economy is struggling to grind out consistent growth and this is steadily weighing on the job market – most vividly displayed in the 0.6 percentage point back-up in the unemployment rate in the past year,” said BMO chief economist Douglas Porter. “Again, the regional divergence is the dominant theme here, as Alberta is now weakening notably after at first holding up surprisingly well in the early stages of the oil price shock.
“Meanwhile, unemployment in the non-oil producing regions remains quite stable, essentially stuck in the middle of an improving U.S. economy and a deteriorating resource economy at home.”
In the United States, non-farm jobs increased by 151,000 in January. As of press time, the Canadian dollar was trading at 72.07 cents U.S. – down more than six-tenths of a cent from before both countries announced their employment data this morning.
@EmmaHampelBIV
