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August jobs report 'disappointing' but too soon to sound the alarm: economists
Public sector and support services drove most of the decline, while manufacturing added 22,000 jobs and wage growth slowed to 2%, Statistics Canada said.
Statistics Canada reported the Canadian labour market lost 42,000 jobs in August, missing expectations for a 15,000 gain while the unemployment rate held steady at 6.4 per cent.
Economists remained calm about the soft data, with Andrew Hencic, senior economist at TD Bank, suggesting one month of disappointing results should not define the labour market.
Manufacturing added 22,000 jobs in August despite 50 per cent tariffs imposed by The United States, while average hourly wage growth cooled to two per cent.
Signs of economic cooling support the Bank of Canada remaining on hold, though financial markets put odds of a rate hike at the Oct. 28 meeting at more than 25 per cent.
Young workers aged 15 to 24 faced 19,000 job losses in August, though StatCan noted the summer market was statistically better than last year; analysts warn the data may not capture the full tariff shock.