Part-time work fuels Canadian job growth again as jobless rate dips to 6.8%
OTTAWA — The Canadian labour market topped expectations by adding another 10,700 jobs last month and dropping the unemployment rate to 6.8 per cent — but the latest numbers raise questions about the quality of the work.
Statistics Canada’s November employment survey showed yet another monthly decline in full-time work — a figure more than offset by a gain in part-time jobs. The report Friday said the market added 19,400 part-time jobs last month and shed 8,700 full-time positions.
Compared with November 2015, Canada gained 183,200 jobs overall for an increase of 0.1 per cent — but over that period full-time work fell by 30,500 positions, while the part-time category piled up an additional 213,700 jobs.
The result did beat the expectations of economists, who had predicted Canada to shed 20,000 positions in November and for the jobless rate to stay at seven per cent, according to Thomson Reuters.