There is no sign of a hiring slowdown just yet in Canada as employers added 150,000 jobs in January and unemployment remained steady at 5%, according to Statistics Canada.
This was 10 times more than the expected gain per Bloomberg of 15,000 jobs and follows a strong December when 104,000 jobs were created.
“This continued an upward trend in total employment that began in September 2022, with cumulative gains totalling 326,000 (+1.7%),” Statistics Canada said.
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Wholesale and retail trade, healthcare and social assistance, and education services led the gains. Notably, 121,000 of the jobs added were full-time work.
January’s job gains pushed the country’s employment rate, being the percentage of people aged 15 and older who are employed, to 62.5% which Statistics Canada said was a level last observed in April and May of 2019.
The United States also saw greater-than-expected employment gains in January. It added 517,000 non-farm payroll jobs during the month, well above the Street’s expectation of 185,000.
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