Net Change in Employment in Canada rose by 418,500, compared to analysts’ estimate of 400,000, in July and brought the Unemployment Rate down from 12.3% in June to 10.9% in July, Statistics Canada reported on Friday. Underlying details of the publication revealed that the Participation Rate improved from 63.8% to 64.3% but missed the market expectation of 64.4%.
Market reaction
The USD/CAD pair edged slightly lower following this report and was last seen trading at 1.3337, where it was still up 0.23% on a daily basis.
Additional takeaways
“The number of Canadians who were employed but worked less than half their usual hours for reasons likely related to COVID-19 dropped by 412,000 (-18.8%) in July.”
“Combined with declines recorded in May and June, this left COVID-related absences from work at just under 1 million (+972,000; +120.3%) above February levels.”
“By the week of July 12 to July 18, the total number of affected workers stood at 2.3 million, a reduction since April of 58.0%.”