MNI: Canada Jobs Sees Biggest Drop In 3.5 Yrs; -40.8k In July

Canada's July job creation was below expectations with employment falling by 40,800, instead of a 10k gain that economists had expected, the biggest monthly fall since January 2022.

 

The unemployment rate was unchanged at 6.9%, a tick below market expectations for an increase to 7.0%. The 0.2% July decrease in employment partly offset the increase in June that surprisingly increased by 83,100, Statistics Canada said Friday from Ottawa.

 

Employment in July was down across several industries, led by information, culture and recreation and construction (-29k). Construction employment declined by 22k; business, building and other support services employment fell by 19k; health care and social assistance employment fell 17k; and employment rose in transportation and warehousing by 26k, the first increase since January. 

 

The employment rate declined 0.2 percentage points to 60.7%. The number of employees in the private sector fell by 39,000 in July, offsetting the 107,000 combined gain in May and June. 

 

The decline in July employment was concentrated among youth aged 15 to 24, that saw a decline of 34,000. The youth unemployment rate has increased 4.3 percentage points over the last two years and edged up to 14.6% in July, the highest in 15 years, excluding Covid. 

 

Of the 1.6 million Canadians who were unemployed in July, 23.8% were in long-term unemployment, the highest share of long-term unemployment since 1998 ex-Covid.