Canada adds 245,800 jobs in Aug, unemployment rate 10.2pc
- We are seeing some, as expected, cooling down in decent job gains. Still quite robust though.
- We've got a long way to go to before we make up the deep losses that we saw in March and April.
OTTAWA: Canada added 245,800 jobs in August, most of them full-time, and the unemployment rate fell to 10.2% as the economy continued to reopen from coronavirus shutdowns, Statistics Canada said on Friday.
Analysts in a Reuters poll had predicted a gain of 275,000 jobs and for the unemployment rate to fall to 10.1% from 10.9% in July.
"We are seeing some, as expected, cooling down in decent job gains. Still quite robust though," said Doug Porter, chief economist at BMO Capital Markets.
"We've got a long way to go to before we make up the deep losses that we saw in March and April," he added. "But this is another big step in the right direction."
The Canadian dollar gave up some of its earlier gains after the data, trading at 1.3106 to the US dollar, or 76.30 US cents, up 0.2% on the day.
Full-time employment rose by 205,800 compared with 40,000 new part-time positions. Employment in the goods-producing sector grew by 27,600 jobs, while the services sector grew by 218,100 positions.
If those who wanted to work but did not look for a job were included as unemployed in August, the adjusted unemployment rate would have been 13.0%, StatsCan said.
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