The mostly part-time jobs have seen the unemployment rate reach its lowest level since the 1970s.
The Canadian economy added some 54,000 new jobs in July, causing the jobless rate to drop by two-tenths of a percentage point to 5.8 per cent.
The country’s official unemployment rate is now tied for its lowest level since the 1970s, Bloomberg data shows. The jobless figure has reached the same level several times in 2018 without ever surpassing it.
Statistics Canada said Friday that the economy added 82,000 part-time jobs, but that figure was offset by a loss of 28,000 full-time positions.
The public sector added 49,600 new jobs, while the private sector added 5,200 positions.
According to Bloomberg, the report is “consistent with a robust economy that continues to generate jobs at a steady pace and looks to be running up against capacity… raising concerns the nation’s tightening jobs market is running out of room to grow much further.”
Ontario accounted for most of the gains in July, adding 61,000 jobs as a surge of part-time work offset a loss of full-time jobs.
Yet Toronto-Dominion Bank economist Brian DePratto told CBC that beyond the headline-grabbing figures, the details of the report were “mixed.”
“On the plus side, the number of unemployed fell and more Canadians were drawn to the labour force – both signs of a healthy economy,” DePratto said.
But there’s one demographic group for whom the labor market is looking much less positive: students. Every summer, Statistics Canada collects data on what the job market is like for young people between the ages of 15 and 24 who want to work.
This summer, there are 67,000 fewer young people with summer jobs than there were last year. The unemployment rate for young people now sits at 12.8 per cent.
