Canadian jobless rate falls to 33-year low of 5.8 per cent in October

63,000 jobs created

Published: Friday, November 02, 2007

OTTAWA -- Canada's jobless rate fell to a 33-year-low of 5.8 per cent in October, down from 5.9 per cent in the previous month, as 63,000 jobs -- mostly in the public sector -- were added to the economy, Statistics Canada said Friday.

The report pushed the Canadian dollar to a historic high against the U.S. currency in early trading Friday, briefly reaching above 1.07 US.

The new positions -- surpassing analysts' forecasts -- were split between full-time and part-time, the agency said, with more than half of the jobs being created in Ontario and with workers aged 55 and over accounting for the majority of the gains.

Most analysts had expected job creation to total only 12,000 jobs in October, and with no change in the unemployment rate.

"Spurred on by the gains in health care and public administration, employment growth in October was concentrated among public sector employees," it said, with the sector posting a 5.6-per-cent rise far this year.

Health care and social assistance saw the strongest job growth in October, adding 29,000 positions.

However, the manufacturing sector continued to weaken, due to an economic slowdown in the United States and a soaring Canadian dollar -- making goods produced in this country more expensive in foreign markets. The sector lost 3,500 jobs last month and total of 63,300 position since October 2006.

"In contrast to the growth in the service sector, there has been overall weakness in the goods-producing industries, where employment has edged down 0.5 per cent since the start of the year," Statistics Canada said.

"So far in 2007, significant losses in manufacturing have been almost completely offset by robust gains in construction and utilities. In October, utilities was the only industry in the goods-producing sector to show signs of strength. Utilities include electric power generation, transmission and distribution, natural gas distribution, and water supply and sewage systems."

October's employment rate reached a record high of 63.7 per cent, with the total number of Canadians employed rising 2.1 per cent, the strongest January to October growth seen in five years.

Of the news positions created last month, 35,500 of them were full-time jobs and 27,500 were part-time.

Most of the job went to workers aged 55 and over in October. "With these gains, the proportion of persons aged 55 and over who were employed reached its highest level, at 32.2 per cent,"_Statistics Canada said.

"For the second consecutive month, more than half the increase in employment occurred in Ontario," the agency said. There were 32,000 positions added to the province's job rolls., while the unemployment rate declined to six per cent.

Meanwhile, wages were up 4.1 per cent in October from the same period last year - the third consecutive month in which year-over-year wage increases were above four per cent, and still well above Canada's inflation rate of 2.5 per cent.

"The Canadian jobs party just keeps on rockin'," said Douglas Porter, senior economist at BMO Capital Markets.

"This is definitely not good news from a productivity standpoint, as employment has somehow managed to rise more in the past year than real GDP," he said.

"However, it is good news for personal incomes and for consumer spending. The exceedingly tight labour market is "Exhibit A" in reasons why the Bank of Canada cannot readily cut rates in response to the runaway Canadian dollar."

Unemployment rates by province in October:

Newfoundland and Labrador 13.5
Prince Edward Island 8.8
Nova Scotia 7.6
New Brunswick 7.6
Quebec 6.9
Ontario 6
Manitoba 4
Saskatchewan 4.3
Alberta 3.4
British Columbia 4.4