Canada adds 32,300 jobs in March, jobless rate stays at 5.8pc

TORONTO: The Canadian economy added more jobs than expected last month, driven by hiring in the construction and public administration sectors, as well as a recovery in full-time positions, data from Statistics Canada showed on Friday.

MATHIEU D'ANJOU, SENIOR ECONOMIST, DESJARDINS

"The numbers are good. It's reassuring to see that the Canadian economy is doing quite well. The report was better than expected with a lot of full time jobs. It was good all in all. But the economy is not strong enough to make the Bank of Canada to act on rates as soon as April."

ANDREW KELVIN, SENIOR RATES STRATEGIST AT TD SECURITIES

"It looks like a decent report. Wage growth, we hoped would accelerate a bit more but it is still really solid above 3 percent. The full-time, part-time split was constructive, and really we are just unwinding some of the weakness we saw earlier in Q1 here."

"The Bank of Canada is going to be happy to see a positive month of jobs data. It won't change the calculus around April (interest rate decision) really in any way shape or form."

"With a bit of positive momentum in the labour market, if they can build off this in April and May and if wage growth remains above 3 percent, perhaps even accelerates a bit, it keeps that July hike alive, which is still our forecast."

DOUG PORTER, CHIEF ECONOMIST, BMO CAPITAL MARKETS

"The report was fairly close to expectations. Of course the headline jobs number was the one stand out in the report and it was driven entirely be full-time employment, so that certainly gave it a solid backdrop. But other than the headline, most of the details were unexceptional and fairly close to expectations."

"There were some relatively weak wrinkles in the report: private sector employment was actually down, manufacturing pulled back a bit, but I would say overall this is a relatively solid report and I would view it as encouraging."

"We did see an initial jump in the Canadian dollar, partly because of a bit of disappointment in the US report initially and a nice headline on the Canadian number, but I don't think it meaningfully changed the outlook for the Bank of Canada."