TORONTO (Reuters) - Canada’s economy lost a net 71,200 jobs in November, in both full-time and part-time work, Statistics Canada said on Friday. The jobless rate climbed to 5.9%. Employment in the goods producing sector fell by a net 26,600 jobs, almost entirely in manufacturing. The services sector lost a net 44,400 positions, mostly in public administration, as well as accommodation and food services. Analysts say many of those public administration jobs were related to the recent federal election.
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COMMENTARY
DEREK HOLT, VICE PRESIDENT OF CAPITAL MARKETS ECONOMICS AT SCOTIABANK:
“All around miss. Weak details reinforce the headline miss. We have gotten two back-to-back weak numbers out of Canada... and so at the margin it is convincing evidence that we may be at a weakening spot in the labor market.
“Generally speaking there is very weak global data and the Canadian numbers are another step in that direction.”
NATHAN JANZEN, SENIOR ECONOMIST AT RBC:
“It’s an ugly report for the most part. Employment is down pretty substantially in November. Those numbers are pretty volatile. We’re still up significantly on a year-over-year basis, so the employment trend has still been OK, but the jump in the unemployment rate is surprising. It’s been a while since we had a four-tenths increase in unemployment in one month. I think the silver lining is still wage growth, which actually ticked a little higher for all employees and held steady at 4.5%for permanent employees.
“Labor markets have been really strong, so even a pretty ugly report probably won’t be enough to really convince them that labor market trends have changed significantly, but if we saw a repeat of this labor market performance going forward, I think (the Bank of Canada) would start rethinking their strategy.”
ROYCE MENDES, SENIOR ECONOMIST AT CIBC CAPITAL MARKETS, IN A NOTE:
“Canada’s labor market took more than a breather in November, with an apparent massive decline in employment. Headline jobs fell 71,000 during the month. While roughly 20,000 of that drop was due to a reversal of temporary federal election related hiring, the rest of the weakness was broadly based by industry and by type of employment.
“Overall, a weak set of numbers, something that could have the Bank of Canada rethinking its on-hold stance if it were to continue.”
Reporting by Fergal Smith and Moira Warburton in Toronto,; Editing by Steve Scherer
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