Canada Added 29,400 Jobs In January 2014

10 Feb 2014

According to the recent labor force survey from Statistics Canada, in January 2014, 29,400 Canadian jobs were gained, which resulted in a 0.2% reduction in the Canadian unemployment rate. The economists had forecasted an addition of 20,000 jobs and the January increase was much higher than the expectations and was a satisfying reversal of the 45,900 jobs lost in December.

In response to the new numbers, Jim Flaherty, the Canadian Finance Minister, said that the trend is good and is comforting as they plan for budget and modest stable job growth in Canada.

Better full-time job creation

The agency said that the main reason for the raise in Canadian jobs is the rise in full-time work, as January saw an addition of 50,500 full-time positions, while there was a reduction of 21,100 part-time jobs.

For Craig Alexander, the TD chief economist, the increased number of full-time jobs was a relief. However, he pointed to the month-to-month volatility of job creation numbers in Canada, in CBC News interview.

Alexander said that he prefers to examine the 6-month average, which shows around 15,000 jobs created per month, in line with other economic data that shows the economy growing at a moderate pace.

He said that after the disastrous job numbers of December, the January numbers are a welcome relief.

Alexander added that it is excellent news that the labor market is not declining the way the December number was shown, but it is necessary to keep the positive sentiments in check as the recently seen volatility in the labor force must also be taken into account.

Largest Canadian job gains were seen in accommodation and food services

With an added 17,000 workers, the largest Canadian job gains of January were in the food-services and accommodation sector, followed by health and social services (16,900), and technical, professional and scientific services (16,600).

According to Statistics Canada, adding a total of 118,600 jobs between January 2013 and January 2014, most of the Canadian job gains were experienced by private businesses, while, in the same period, the public sector gained 19,500 jobs.