Canada jobless rate rises above U.S.

  • Bloomberg News
  • Friday, January 10, 2014 4:16pm
  • Business

OTTAWA — Canada’s unemployment rate unexpectedly rose from a five-year low last month on a drop in full-time work, taking it above the U.S. jobless measure for the first time since 2008.

Unemployment rose to 7.2 percent from 6.9 percent while employment fell by 45,900 in December, Statistics Canada said Friday in Ottawa. Economists surveyed by Bloomberg News projected a 14,100 job increase and an unchanged unemployment rate according to the median forecasts. U.S. unemployment fell to 6.7 percent from 7 percent.

The weaker job market, tepid exports and sluggish business investment are hampering economic growth. Bank of Canada Governor Stephen Poloz said in an interview last month that a rotation of demand from indebted consumers is taking longer than he expected and predicted the economy won’t reach full output for two years. The Canadian dollar dropped to a four-year low and bond yields plunged.

“It’s going to make the Bank of Canada cautious in our view,” Paul Ferley, assistant chief economist at Royal Bank of Canada, one of three economists who correctly predicted higher unemployment Friday, said by phone from Toronto. “It just argues for them to keep policy accommodative but not to go so far as to introduce further easing.”

After Friday’s report, traders were pricing in about 11 basis points of lower rates by the Bank of Canada’s December 2014 policy meeting, compared with 6.2 basis points yesterday and 3.1 basis points a month ago, according to Bloomberg calculations based on overnight index swaps.

Full-time employment declined by 60,000 workers in December, the most since October 2011, while part-time positions increased by 14,200.

The report caps a year of labor market weakness with 102,000 jobs created in 2013, a 0.6 percent increase that was the slowest since 2009, Statistics Canada said. Employment growth slowed from 1.8 percent in 2012.

The number of unemployed rose by 24,300 during the year, greater than the 19,200 annual increase in full-time work. For every full-time job created last year, four part-time jobs were added, the data show.

Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan Inc., the world’s largest fertilizer producer by market value, said last month it will cut its global workforce by 18 percent amid weaker-than-expected demand in emerging markets. Canada’s postal service said Dec. 11 it will cut its workforce by as many as 8,000 over five years, or almost 12 percent, to reduce costs.

Natural resource companies fired 8,000 workers in December, Statistics Canada said, and education employment dropped by 18,500.

Private companies cut 26,300 workers and public-sector employment rose by 18,200 in December.

Workers designated by Statistics Canada as employees fell by 8,000, and the self-employed category dropped by 37,900.

The jobless rate in Ontario, the most populous province, jumped to 7.9 percent from 7.2 percent as employment fell by 39,300, Statistics Canada said.

The labor force participation rate remained at 66.4 percent, the lowest in more than a decade, for a fourth month in December.

Average hourly wages of permanent employees rose 2 percent in December from a year earlier, slower than the prior reading of 2.3 percent.

The share of Canadians who say their jobs are secure declined to 45.9 percent on Jan. 3 from 48.9 percent on Dec. 6, according to the Bloomberg Nanos Canadian Confidence Index.

Statistics Canada publishes an unemployment rate that it says is comparable to the U.S. rate; on that basis Canada’s unemployment was 5.8 percent in December. The gap of 0.9 percentage points has narrowed from 3.3 percentage points at the end of 2010.

Talk to us

> Give us your news tips.

> Send us a letter to the editor.

> More Herald contact information.

More in Business

Black Press Media operates Sound Publishing, the largest community news organization in Washington State with dailies and community news outlets in Alaska.
Black Press Media concludes transition of ownership

Black Press Media, which operates Sound Publishing, completed its sale Monday (March 25), following the formerly announced corporate restructuring.

Maygen Hetherington, executive director of the Historic Downtown Snohomish Association, laughs during an interview in her office on Thursday, Feb. 15, 2024, in Snohomish, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
Maygen Hetherington: tireless advocate for the city of Snohomish

Historic Downtown Snohomish Association receives the Opportunity Lives Here award from Economic Alliance.

FILE - Washington Secretary of State Steve Hobbs poses in front of photos of the 15 people who previously held the office on Nov. 22, 2021, after he was sworn in at the Capitol in Olympia, Wash. Hobbs faces several challengers as he runs for election to the office he was appointed to last fall. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren, File)
Secretary of State Steve Hobbs: ‘I wanted to serve my country’

Hobbs, a former Lake Stevens senator, is the recipient of the Henry M. Jackson Award from Economic Alliance Snohomish County.

Mark Duffy poses for a photo in his office at the Mountain Pacific Bank headquarters on Wednesday, Feb. 14, 2024 in Everett, Washington. (Annie Barker / The Herald)
Mark Duffy: Building a hometown bank; giving kids an opportunity

Mountain Pacific Bank’s founder is the recipient of the Fluke Award from Economic Alliance Snohomish County.

Barb Tolbert poses for a photo at Silver Scoop Ice Cream on Thursday, Feb. 29, 2024 in Arlington, Washington. (Annie Barker / The Herald)
Barb Tolbert: Former mayor piloted Arlington out of economic brink

Tolbert won the Elson S. Floyd Award, honoring a leader who has “created lasting opportunities” for the underserved.

Photo provided by 
Economic Alliance
Economic Alliance presented one of the Washington Rising Stem Awards to Katie Larios, a senior at Mountlake Terrace High School.
Mountlake Terrace High School senior wins state STEM award

Katie Larios was honored at an Economic Alliance gathering: “A champion for other young women of color in STEM.”

The Westwood Rainier is one of the seven ships in the Westwood line. The ships serve ports in the Pacific Northwest and Northeast Asia. (Photo provided by Swire Shipping)
Westwood Shipping Lines, an Everett mainstay, has new name

The four green-hulled Westwood vessels will keep their names, but the ships will display the Swire Shipping flag.

A Keyport ship docked at Lake Union in Seattle in June 2018. The ship spends most of the year in Alaska harvesting Golden King crab in the Bering Sea. During the summer it ties up for maintenance and repairs at Lake Union. (Keyport LLC)
In crabbers’ turbulent moment, Edmonds seafood processor ‘saved our season’

When a processing plant in Alaska closed, Edmonds-based business Keyport stepped up to solve a “no-win situation.”

Angela Harris, Executive Director of the Port of Edmonds, stands at the port’s marina on Wednesday, Jan. 24, 2024, in Edmonds, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
Leadership, love for the Port of Edmonds got exec the job

Shoring up an aging seawall is the first order of business for Angela Harris, the first woman to lead the Edmonds port.

The Cascade Warbirds fly over Naval Station Everett. (Sue Misao / The Herald file)
Bothell High School senior awarded $2,500 to keep on flying

Cascade Warbirds scholarship helps students 16-21 continue flight training and earn a private pilot’s certificate.

Rachel Gardner, the owner of Musicology Co., a new music boutique record store on Thursday, Jan. 18, 2024 in Edmonds, Washington. Musicology Co. will open in February, selling used and new vinyl, CDs and other music-related merchandise. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
New Edmonds record shop intends to be a ‘destination for every musician’

Rachel Gardner opened Musicology Co. this month, filling a record store gap in Edmonds.

MyMyToyStore.com owner Tom Harrison at his brick and mortar storefront on Tuesday, Sept. 6, 2022 in Everett, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Burst pipe permanently closes downtown Everett toy store

After a pipe flooded the store, MyMyToystore in downtown Everett closed. Owner Tom Harrison is already on to his next venture.

Support local journalism

If you value local news, make a gift now to support the trusted journalism you get in The Daily Herald. Donations processed in this system are not tax deductible.