The Canadian economy defied expectations for weakness, and churned out 29K net new jobs in March. Similar gains in the labour force left the unemployment rate unchanged at 6.8%.
The devil was in the details though, as hiring was concentrated in part-time positions (+57K). Canada's economy lost 28K full-time jobs on net.
Rounding out the jobs data is total hours worked, which was quite weak, falling 0.3% (m/m). At the same time, average year-over-year wage growth increased slightly to 2.0%, up from 1.8% in February.
"We had expected a weaker employment tally in March to bring employment more in line with other indicators. We continue to expect weakness in hiring in the second quarter. March's job gains were also concentrated in part-time employment, which is not great for income growth. Another indication that job gains were less than meets the eye.
We don't expect it will alter the Bank's calculus heading into their interest rate decision next Wed. We expect soft economic growth to keep BoC patient over the medium term, as stronger U.S. growth, a weaker Canadian dollar, and an eventual uptick in oil prices to pull growth back above 2% later this year." - TD Economics said in a report on Friday
