By Julie Gordon
OTTAWA (Reuters) – Canada’s economy shed jobs for the third straight month in August and the jobless rate unexpectedly jumped to 5.4%, Statistics Canada data showed on Friday.
The economy lost a net 39,700 jobs in August, missing analyst forecasts it would add 15,000. The jobless rate was also worse-than-expected, analysts having predicted it would edge up slightly to 5.0% from a record low 4.9% in July.
All told, Canada has lost a net 113,500 jobs in the last three months, the vast majority in full-time work. Despite this decline, full-time employment remains 3.9% higher than a year ago, Statscan said.
Wages gains continued to accelerate in August, up 5.6% on the year compared with 5.4% in July and more people said they were planning on leaving their current jobs in the next 12 months, citing pay and benefits as their No.1 reason.
Employment fell mostly among young women and people aged 55 to 64 in August. The overall participation rate ticked up to 64.8% as 66,200 people joined the labor force.
The Bank of Canada lifted its policy rate to 3.25% on Wednesday, its highest level in 14 years, and made clear more tightening was coming as it battles inflation near a four-decade high.
The Canadian dollar gave back some of its earlier gains after the data. It was trading 0.4% higher at 1.3035 to the U.S. dollar, or 76.72 U.S. cents.
(Reporting by Julie Gordon in Ottawa, additional reporting by Dale Smith in Ottawa and Fergal Smith in Toronto; Editing by Tomasz Janowski)
