Statistic Canada on Friday reported that Canada’s unemployment rate rose to 5.8%, a step higher than 5.7% in January, reaching the highest level since the start of 2022.
76,400 people enters labor force
The health of Canadian labor market is still largely a story of a race between the growth of employment opportunities and working population.
Employment rate in February shows that only 61.5% of the population aged 15 and above were employed, a 0.1 percentage point down from January.
The drop of employment rate followed a 40,700 increase in the number of people got a job in Feb. On average, close to 28,300 jobs were created monthly between December and February.
While the employment growth continues, remaining at close to 0.2%, 76,400 Canadian entered the labor force in the same month, representing a close to 0.35% increase; hence, the unemployment rate rose.
The accelerated expansion in labor force, which now comprises of 21.66 million people, was happened in the backdrop of a total on a 208,900 increase in the population of 15 years old and older during the last two months.
As a result, the labor participation rate, the share of population who are employed or looking for jobs, held at 65.3%, the employment rate lowered to 61.5%.
Hourly wage growth: 5%
As the employment market became less tight, hourly wage in February increased only 5.01% compared to a year ago. That’s the second month in a row that wage grow decelerated, from a recent peak of 5.45% booked in December.
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