A rising unemployment rate and signs of slowing in the economy should be enough to keep the Bank of Canada on hold at its final interest rate decision of the year, according to some economists.
Canadian employers collectively added some 25,000 jobs in November, Statistics Canada said Friday.
Canada’s unemployment rate ticked up to 5.8 per cent in November from 5.7 per cent the previous month. It started the year at a near-record low of 5.0 per cent.
StatCan says job gains were seen in full-time work and in the private sector, with losses in self-employment and part-time work.
Manufacturing and construction saw the largest gains in employment, while the most jobs were shed in wholesale and retail trade as well as finance, insurance, real estate, rental and leasing.
Average hourly wages were up 4.8 per cent annually, the agency said Friday.
As labour market conditions weaken, the survey finds unemployed people last month were more likely to have been laid off compared with a year ago.
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After a robust bounce back from the pandemic, the job market has cooled this year as high interest rates weigh on businesses.
Forecasters expect this trend to continue as the economy struggles to grow and interest rates remain elevated.
Is the Bank of Canada done with rate hikes?
The Bank of Canada has been looking for softening in the labour market as it gauges the forecast for inflation and where to take its benchmark interest rate next.
The central bank’s final rate decision of the year comes on Wednesday.
TD Bank senior economist James Orlando said in a note to