Canada’s employment grows strongly in June, jobless rate lowers slightly to 6.5 pct

Canada’s posts strong employment growth in June. The Canadian economy added 45.3k net jobs in June. More Canadians have joined the labor market; however, the solid job gains were sufficient to counter this impact, resulting in the jobless to drop slightly to 6.5 percent.

Job gains were focused in part-time positions that rose by 37.1k, while full time work added 8.1k net jobs. The employee/self-employed mix was almost half-and-half, as 23.9k net employment positions were added against a 21.4k gain in self-employment.

Private sector led the gains in employees for the second straight month in June, adding 17.8k, while the public sector created a net 6k positions. June witnessed broad based rises in employment throughout major sectors. On the goods-producing side of things, 16k positions were added, led by agriculture that rose 12k, with more modest gains reported throughout most of the other categories. Amongst the service-producing industries, professional services led the way, slightly countered by drops in business support services and transportation. Modest rises in job were seen in most of the other major service sectors.

Throughout the nation, British Columbia and Quebec led the gains, adding 28.3k and 19.7k respectively. Amongst the remaining provinces, it was a mixed bag of generally flat performances, excluding Alberta that added 7.5k net jobs in June. Aggregate hours worked rose slightly in the month, rising 1.4 percent year-on-year. Meanwhile, hourly wage growth continued to be weak, rising just 1 percent year-on-year.

The Canadian economy has defied expectations again by recording another month of strong job gains. While the employment mix was greater on part-time job gains, another tick higher in the participation rate, and a decent rise of hours worked were both encouraging to see.

There are regional divergences seen hiding beneath the strong figure, with soft employment prints in Ontario adding the list of concerns, especially given recent moves in housing markets and the province’s dependence on real estate as a driver of growth, noted TD Economics in a research report Today’s job report is unlikely to have much weight on the BoC’s interest rate decision, given it continues the trend of strong job gains.

At 17:00 GMT the FxWirePro's Hourly Strength Index of Canadian Dollar was highly bullish at 112.852, while the FxWirePro's Hourly Strength Index US Dollar was neutral at -21.6533. For more details on FxWirePro's Currency Strength Index, visit http://www.fxwirepro.com/currencyindex

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