The June jobs report was released today in Canada. According to Matthieu Arseneau, analysts at National Bank of Canada the details of the report were good with 24K full-time jobs being added and private employment rebounding 20K. He points out that on a year-to-date basis, employment in Canada is up a whopping 248K, the best semester since 2002.
Key Quotes:
“If hours worked are any guide, the economic soft patch came to an end in Q2. Indeed, hours worked are up a whopping 3.4% annualized, the fastest pace in 7 quarters.”
“A tight labour market is reflected in wages with hourly earnings of permanent workers rising by 1.1% in June, a four standard deviation move (seasonally adjusted by NBF). Wages are up an annualized 6.5% over the past six months, the fastest clip since 2007.”
“While trade disputes remain a concern for global growth going forward, near record low unemployment, accelerating wages, and rebounding economic activity in Q2 do not argue for a BoC rate cut at this time.”