Canada’s unemployment rate drops to lowest level in more than two years
OTTAWA — Canada’s unemployment rate dropped to 6.6 per cent last month, its lowest level in more than two years, Statistics Canada said Friday, as the economy created more jobs than expected even with fewer people looking for work.
The report was the latest in a line of stronger-than-expected data. Several economists hailed the numbers as further evidence that Canada’s economy is on the mend from the oil price shock of recent years, though at least one questioned the survey’s findings of a massive swing toward full-time employment at the expense of part-time jobs.
The decline of 0.2 percentage points from the previous month brought the unemployment rate down to a number not seen since January 2015.
The agency’s February employment survey indicated the national labour market added 15,300 jobs overall last month.