OTTAWA — Canada’s unemployment rate held steady at 6.5 percent in October as hiring slowed, the national statistical agency said on Friday.
Some 15,000 net new jobs were created in the month ― half what analysts had forecast, following a decline in the jobless rate of 0.1 percentage points in September.
“Hiring demand has continued to slow with job openings falling, and we continue to think the most likely near-term path for the unemployment rate is higher rather than lower,” said Nathan Janzen of RBC Economics.
He said the data signaled “more urgency for the Bank of Canada to respond to an underperforming Canadian economy” by further cutting interest rates at its next meeting in December.
The central bank last month cut its key lending rate for the fourth time in recent months, to 3.75 percent.
According to Statistics Canada, more people were employed in October in business, building and other support services (+29,000), and fewer people were employed in finance, insurance, real estate, rental and leasing (-13,000) as well as public administration (-8,700).
Following two months of strong employment growth, private sector job creation effectively ground to a halt, while there was virtually no change in the public sector and among self-employed workers.
The month saw gains among male youth ages 15 to 24, while women ages 55 and older saw job losses.
Statistics Canada noted that nearly one in three Canadians reported living in households that were finding it “difficult or very difficult” to make ends meet as costs of living have soared, despite average wages having increased 4.9 percent year over year.
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