TORONTO (Reuters) – Canada’s economy added 14,500 jobs in October and the jobless rate held at 6.5% from September, Statistics Canada data showed on Friday.
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COMMENTARY
NICK REES, SENIOR FX MARKET ANALYST AT MONEX EUROPE LTD
“Jobs gains slipped back in October, as we expected with less help from seasonal adjustments this month. But the unemployment rate stabilising at 6.5% might give the BoC some pause for thought when considering another 50 bp (basis point) rate move in December, keeping USD-CAD treading water for now.”
ANDREW GRANTHAM, SENIOR ECONOMIST, CIBC CAPITAL MARKETS
“Canadian employment growth was lackluster in October, with the unemployment rate only holding steady because of a further decline in labour market participation.”
“With one more employment report before the Bank’s next interest rate decision, today’s release was never going to close the book on the 25 vs 50 bp (basis point) cut debate. The mixed nature of today’s data didn’t help, but we continue to lean towards another 50 bp move.”
DOUG PORTER, CHIEF ECONOMIST, BMO CAPITAL MARKETS
“For a change there is really no big surprise here from the jobs data. The headline employment increase was may be a little bit lighter than expected but may be given the wide range of possibilities in Canadian jobs report this is pretty much as expected. It is slightly notable that the unemployment rate held steady at 6.5% whereas a modest back up was expected. Some of the details were slightly better than the headline would suggest including the fact most of the gains were in fulltime private sector jobs and manufacturing, but from a big picture point of view this is consistent with the economy that is seeing a modest growth.”
ANDREW GRANTHAM, SENIOR ECONOMIST, CIBC CAPITAL MARKETS
“Canadian employment growth was lackluster in October, with the unemployment rate only holding steady because of a further decline in labour market participation.”
“With one more employment report before the Bank’s next interest rate decision, today’s release was never going to close the book on the 25 vs 50 bp (basis point) cut debate. The mixed nature of today’s data didn’t help, but we continue to lean towards another 50 bp move.”
ROBERT BOTH, CANADIAN MACRO STRATEGIST AT TD SECURITIES
“It definitely seems a little bit muted. You know, we and the market were already looking for job growth to slow down a touch from last month, and with the 14,000 in October, the six months trend actually looks considerably weaker at just 18,000 over the last six months.”
“The Canadian jobs data is very volatile, but we do put a little more weight on that six month trend. The unemployment rate was a little bit lower than expected, I don’t think the Bank of Canada is going to draw too much comfort in that, given that participation rate did fall as well.”
(Reporting by Fergal Smith Nivedita Balu and Divya Rajagopal; Editing by Caroline Stauffer)