Employment surprise: Canada adds jobs in April
by investor on 08/05/09 at 12:47 pm
The Canadian economy saw an unexpected increase in jobs during April, despite a deepening economic recession, leaving the unemployment rate at 8%.
Statistics Canada said 35,900 positions were added during the month, driven by an increase in self-employment.
“Despite this increase, overall employment has fallen by 321,000 since the peak in October 2008,” the federal agency said.
“The unemployment rate was unchanged at 8% in April, remaining at its highest level in seven years, with the growth in employment coinciding with an increase in the labour force.”
Most of the job gains were in the information, culture and recreation sectors, as well as business, building and agriculture, the agency said. Employment levels were unchanged in the manufacturing and construction sectors.
Most economists had expected 50,000 job losses in April, with the unemployment rate rising to 8.3%.
“Now that’s what I would call a green shoot,” said Douglass Porter, deputy chief economists at BMO Capital Markets.
“While quite encouraging, it’s important to recall that head fakes are always possible – employment managed to rise in 5 separate months in 1991, in the middle of a lengthy, deep recession. And some of the rise may reflect a bounce from the extreme drop at the start of the year,” he said.
“Still, this marks a huge improvement from the wicked job losses seen over the winter, and is yet another strong signal that the economy may be approaching bottom – certainly sooner than most forecasters believed possible just a few short weeks ago.”
Statistics Canada said self-employment accounted for 37,000 of the positions created in April, while the number of employees in the public and private sectors was little changed.
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