Weekly Economic Watch
The National Bank of Canada | Mar 12, 2017 06:39AM ET
CANADA: Employment jumped 15K in February according to the Labour Force Survey. As a result, the jobless rate dropped two ticks at 6.6% with the participation rate dropping to 65.8% from 65.9%. The surge in February employment was mostly due to paid jobs (+10K) which were tilted towards the private sector (+17K). Government jobs posted a 7K decline. Goods sector payrolls declined by 15K while services sector employment jumped 30K. Full-time employment soared 105K, while part-time employment dropped 90K. Total hours worked were down 0.3% in February on a year-on-year basis, an improvement compared to the -0.8% registered in the prior month. This should alleviate the Bank of Canada’s concerns about this indicator. From August to January, the Canadian labor market created a whopping 239K jobs, the strongest performance in 15 years over a 6-month period. For the coming months, we continue to think that a statistical correction is in the cards after those outsized gains. The economy is speeding up in 2017 but this does not mean that employment gains will be stellar as we see productivity explaining a larger part of economic growth.
The merchandise trade surplus widened to C$0.8 billion in January from a downwardly revised C$0.5 billion the prior month. The improvement was due primarily to a 0.5% rise in nominal exports driven by a 7.7% surge in motor vehicle shipments, but also to a 0.3% drop in imports. January’s surplus, the third in a row, was explained in part by better terms of trade (i.e., ratio of export prices to import prices). These reached their highest level since early 2015. In real terms, exports increased 0.8%, while imports rose 1.1%. This means that trade has been a drag on growth early in Q1. Though we continue to expect exports to pick up in 2017, supported by a weak currency and stronger growth south of the border, the acceleration will be curtailed by the destruction of manufacturing capacity observed in the past five years in Ontario and Quebec.
To read the entire report Please click on the pdf File Below
Get The News You Want
Trading in financial instruments and/or cryptocurrencies involves high risks including the risk of losing some, or all, of your investment amount, and may not be suitable for all investors. Prices of cryptocurrencies are extremely volatile and may be affected by external factors such as financial, regulatory or political events. Trading on margin increases the financial risks.
Before deciding to trade in financial instrument or cryptocurrencies you should be fully informed of the risks and costs associated with trading the financial markets, carefully consider your investment objectives, level of experience, and risk appetite, and seek professional advice where needed.
Fusion Media would like to remind you that the data contained in this website is not necessarily real-time nor accurate. The data and prices on the website are not necessarily provided by any market or exchange, but may be provided by market makers, and so prices may not be accurate and may differ from the actual price at any given market, meaning prices are indicative and not appropriate for trading purposes. Fusion Media and any provider of the data contained in this website will not accept liability for any loss or damage as a result of your trading, or your reliance on the information contained within this website.
It is prohibited to use, store, reproduce, display, modify, transmit or distribute the data contained in this website without the explicit prior written permission of Fusion Media and/or the data provider. All intellectual property rights are reserved by the providers and/or the exchange providing the data contained in this website.
Fusion Media may be compensated by the advertisers that appear on the website, based on your interaction with the advertisements or advertisers.