Economy sees loss of 42,000 jobs last month
Canada’s economy shed 42,000 jobs in May, pushing the unemployment rate to 8.4%, the highest rate in 11 years, Statistics Canada said Friday.
The loss follows a gain in April, and was led by manufacturing losses in Ontario. Since the employment peak of last October, employment has fallen by 363,000 or 2.1%.
StatsCan notes that Ontario was the only province to experience a substantial employment decline in May, down 60,000, bringing the province’s unemployment rate to 9.4%, the highest in 15 years. Employment in Quebec was unchanged last month, while Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Nova Scotia added jobs in May.
Employment in the manufacturing sector declined by 58,000 positions in May, mostly in Ontario. There was also a loss of 16,000 jobs in transportation and warehousing, while public administration gained 19,000 jobs.
Self-employment fell by 32,000 in May, offsetting the gain in April. Meanwhile, the economy lots 59,000 full-time positions last month.
The U.S. Department of Labor is expected to release its non-farm payroll estimate for January at 8:30 a.m. ET.
On the Horizons BetaPro NYMEX Crude Oil Bear Plus ETF Bullboard Thursday night, paffinman looked ahead to the U.S. jobs data, saying: “Asian markets look really really cautious tonight. All eyes on US unemployment numbers tomorrow. Going to be tough to have a commodities boom with so many people unemployed in the world...not just the USA[sic]”
