Canada: Pace of job creation will continue to slow – NFB

The Canadian jobs report showed employment rose by 246K in August, near market consensus. According to analysts at National Bank of Canada, the labour market recovery still has a long way to go and they expect job creation to continue to slow.

Key Quotes:

“The recovery of jobs lost during the lockdown continued in August with a fourth consecutive gain. The details of the August report are encouraging with no less than 84% of jobs added during the month being full-time. On the flip side, we are still 1.1 million jobs short vs. the preCOVID February peak. As a percentage, this represents a shortfall compared to the trough seen during the 1981 recession. It remains that the still-elevated unemployment rate (10.2%)  does not fully capture the damages experienced in the labour market.”

“According to Statistics Canada, if those who wanted to work but did not actively look for a job were counted as unemployed in August, it would result in an adjusted unemployment rate of 13.0%.”

“Looking forward, the pace of job creation will continue to slow, and some remaining slack is expected for a time as industries will continue to operate below capacity with physical distancing limiting their activities.”