Employment numbers jumped unexpected in January as Canada added 35,000 jobs in the midst of declines in the natural resources sector.
The unemployment rate was expected to remain at 6.7% in January as the country added just 5,000 jobs, according to RBC Economics economist Nathan Janzen. But instead, unemployment dropped from 6.7% to 6.6% between December and January following the surprising jobs data released by Statistics Canada February 5.
Although B.C. added 6,700 jobs, the unemployment rate went up 0.1 percentage points to 5.6% as more people entered the workforce.
“It’s a good reading on Canadian employment, but the details take some of the shine off of the results,” CIBC economist Nick Exarhos said in an investors’ note.
Statistics Canada reported 12,000 full-time jobs were lost while the country gained about 47,000 part-time positions to offset those losses.
Furthermore, an additional 41,000 workers in Canada reported they were now self-employed instead of working for a corporation or in the public sector.
The natural resources sector was hit with 8,800 jobs lost.
But notable gains were experienced in health care and social services (7,800), manufacturing (10,700), educational services (6,100) and professional, scientific and technical services (22,000).
“(The jobs numbers) are still a breath of fresh air for an economy that felt like it was fighting a bad cold recently,” BMO chief economist Douglas Porter said in a note to investors.
Even oil-dependent Alberta, which is experiencing big declines in its energy sector, managed to add 13,700 job as its unemployment rate dipped 0.2 percentage points to 4.5% between December and January.
