In June 2019, Canadian wages rose to their highest level in over a year, as the unemployment rate climbed from all-time lows.
The economy posted a loss of 2,200 jobs that month, or 5.5%, up from 5.4% a month before according to Statistics Canada data that dates back to 1976.
The StatsCan report also noted that the economy added around 24,000 full-time jobs and the lost about 26,000 part-time positions in June.
Economists with Thomson Reuters Eikon had expected around 10,000 jobs to be created in that time, but even so, the economy added 248,000 new positions over the first half of 2019.
June 2019 employment numbers (previous month in brackets):
- Unemployment rate: 5.5% (5.4)
- Employment rate: 62.1% (62.2)
- Participation rate: 65.7% (65.7)
- Men (25 plus) unemployment rate: 5.1% (5.0)
- Women (25 plus) unemployment rate: 4.2% (4.2)
- Number unemployed: 1,114,400 (1,081,800)
- Number working: 19,054,600 (19,056,800)
- Youth (15-24 years) unemployment rate: 10.7% (10.0)
By province:
- Newfoundland and Labrador 13.3%(12.4)
- Prince Edward Island 9.3% (9.0)
- Nova Scotia 6.6% (6.5)
- New Brunswick 7.8% (7.2)
- Quebec 4.9% (5.0)
- Ontario 5.4% (5.2)
By city:
- St. John’s, N.L. 8.1% (8.0)
- Halifax 5.2% (5.2)
- Moncton, N.B. 6.0% (5.9)
- Saint John, N.B. 5.8% (5.8)
- Saguenay, Que. 4.6% (4.1)
- Quebec City 2.4% (2.8)
- Sherbrooke, Que. 3.8% (3.4)
- Trois-Rivieres, Que. 5.7% (5.4)
- Montreal 5.5% (5.4)
- Gatineau, Que. 4.7% (5.3)
- Ottawa 5.6% (5.5)
- Kingston, Ont. 4.6% (4.4)
- Peterborough, Ont. 5.3% (5.8)
- Oshawa, Ont. 5.1% (5.3)
- Toronto 5.9% (6.3)
- Hamilton, Ont. 4.8% (4.3)
- St. Catharines-Niagara, Ont. 5.7% (5.8)
- Kitchener-Cambridge-Waterloo, Ont. 4.8% (4.9)
- Brantford, Ont. 4.7% (5.4)
- Guelph, Ont. 5.4% (4.8)
- London, Ont. 4.9% (5.0)
- Windsor, Ont. 5.7% (5.7)
- Barrie, Ont. 6.4% (7.3)
- Sudbury, Ont. 5.3% (5.1)
- Thunder Bay, Ont. 5.4% (5.1)
- Winnipeg 5.2% (5.1)
- Regina 4.5% (4.4)
- Saskatoon 6.0% (6.1)
- Calgary 7.0% (7.0)
- Edmonton 7.0% (6.8)
- Kelowna, B.C. 4.4% (4.2)
- Abbotsford-Mission, B.C. 5.5% (5.6)
- Vancouver 4.0% (4.2)
- Victoria 4.0% (3.6)
Meanwhile, the US Labor Department says employers added 224,000 jobs in June, after weak job growth of just 72,000 in May. The unemployment rate rose to 3.7%, up from 3.6% for the previous two months .