Close X
Friday, November 29, 2024
ADVT 
National

Unemployment Rate Stays At 6.8 Per Cent In March, 29,000 Jobs Added: Statistics Canada

Darpan News Desk The Canadian Press, 10 Apr, 2015 11:50 AM
  • Unemployment Rate Stays At 6.8 Per Cent In March, 29,000 Jobs Added: Statistics Canada
OTTAWA — Canada's economy posted a surprise job gain in March as more people found part-time work.
 
Statistics Canada's latest labour market survey says the country's jobless rate remained at 6.8 per cent in March — unchanged from the previous month — and it registered a month-to-month net gain of nearly 29,000 jobs.
 
The unemployment rate matched the consensus projection of economists, who also predicted no new jobs would be created for the month, according to Thomson Reuters.
 
"The bar was set pretty low for this employment release and it managed to clear it," Bank of Montreal chief economist Douglas Porter said in a note to investors.
 
"While the details were mixed, at best, any gain is better than the alternative given how the economy struggled out of the gate in 2015. Overall, the point is that the labour market is grinding out very modest gains amid an economy that is grinding out very modest growth."
 
The gain was driven by more people finding part-time work, Statistics Canada said. The number of part-time jobs rose by 56,800 in March — offsetting a loss of 28,200 full-time positions.
 
Over the first quarter of the year, the economy has gained 63,000 jobs, which the agency says are mostly part-time positions.
 
But the agency also notes that since last March, the economy has gained 138,000 mostly full-time jobs.
 
Statistics Canada says more people found jobs in retail and wholesale trade, transportation and warehousing, educational services and natural resources in March, while there were fewer people working in construction, public administration and agriculture.
 
Avery Shenfeld, chief economist at CIBC World Markets, said the March job numbers take the pressure off the Bank of Canada to further cut interest rates next week.
 
"On balance, the numbers will give a much needed dose of optimism after a deluge of weak data for January-February," Shenfeld said in an investors' note.
 
"Bullish for the (Canadian dollar), as it certainly diminishes the odds of a rate cut in the coming week, even if these data are volatile month to month."
 
The survey says Saskatchewan saw its first notable increase in employment since September, as the jobless rate fell 0.6 percentage points to 4.4 per cent in March and the province gained 7,000 jobs.
 
There was little change from last month in energy-rich Alberta, the survey says, with gains in part-time work offsetting lost full-time jobs.
 
Statistics Canada also noted a spike in the number of older women who found jobs in March. There were 18,000 more women aged 55 and older working in March. There was little change in the number of men in the same age group who were working.
 
The agency says that over the past year, most of the increase in total employment has been among people aged 55 and older — up 96,000, or 2.8 per cent.

MORE National ARTICLES

Toronto's Indian-Origin Police Officer Mandip Sandhu Loses Appeal On Sexual Assault Conviction

Toronto's Indian-Origin Police Officer Mandip Sandhu Loses Appeal On Sexual Assault Conviction
Mandip Sandhu, a police constable of Indian descent in Canada's Toronto city, has been taken into custody to serve a 15-month jail term after an appeal of his conviction and sentence for sexually assaulting a masseuse was dismissed.

Toronto's Indian-Origin Police Officer Mandip Sandhu Loses Appeal On Sexual Assault Conviction

Interim CEO And President At B.C. Lottery Corporation, Jim Lightbody, Promoted By Board

Interim CEO And President At B.C. Lottery Corporation, Jim Lightbody, Promoted By Board
Jim Lightbody has been working in the position at the Crown corporation since his appointment in January 2014. That's when Michael Graydon left the agency to take a job with PV Hospitality ULC, an affiliate of Paragon Gaming Inc.

Interim CEO And President At B.C. Lottery Corporation, Jim Lightbody, Promoted By Board

Canadian Tourism Industry Wants To Direct More Marketing Money To The U.S.

Canadian Tourism Industry Wants To Direct More Marketing Money To The U.S.
Tourism Minister Maxime Bernier says visits from places where Canada marketed itself increased by an average of 11 per cent, and that marketing in the U.S., combined with the Canadian dollar's lower value, could have a positive impact.

Canadian Tourism Industry Wants To Direct More Marketing Money To The U.S.

Shots Fired From One Vehicle At Another As Cars Rolled Down Surrey Street

Shots Fired From One Vehicle At Another As Cars Rolled Down Surrey Street
RCMP say witnesses watched a male passenger firing from a silver vehicle towards a black Honda around 11:40 Wednesday morning while both were rolling through an intersection in Surrey, B.C.

Shots Fired From One Vehicle At Another As Cars Rolled Down Surrey Street

Town Relieved After B.C. House Where Allan Schoenborn Killed His 3 Children Torn Down

Town Relieved After B.C. House Where Allan Schoenborn Killed His 3 Children Torn Down
Allan Schoenborn stabbed his daughter and smothered his sons at the home in April 2008 and is now at a secured psychiatric facility in Coquitlam, B.C.

Town Relieved After B.C. House Where Allan Schoenborn Killed His 3 Children Torn Down

Toronto Transit Officers Caught Punching Men On Video, Toronto Police Start Investigation

Toronto Transit Officers Caught Punching Men On Video, Toronto Police Start Investigation
Toronto police are now investigating a violent confrontation between transit enforcement officers and two men which was captured on a video that surfaced online.

Toronto Transit Officers Caught Punching Men On Video, Toronto Police Start Investigation