Canada’s labour market topped expectations in June amid a surprise surge in hiring.
Statistics Canada says the unemployment rate dropped a tick to 6.9 per cent in June as the economy added 83,000 jobs, mostly in part-time work.
Heading into today, economists had expected no job gains for the month and that the jobless rate would rise to 7.1 per cent.
StatCan says June marked the first month of significant job gains since January and snapped a streak of three consecutive months where the unemployment rate rose.
Even the manufacturing sector, which has faced job losses in recent months amid Canada’s tariff dispute with the United States, saw a gain of 10,000 positions in June.
The Bank of Canada will be parsing the labour figures closely as it prepares for its next interest rate decision on July 30.
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