ICYMI: August 9th was Jobs Day and here are our findings.
Jobs growth in Canada came to a halt in July, making way for another interest rate cut by the BoC in September. Though the unemployment rate held steady at 6.4%, this was because fewer people were looking for work.
The labour market continues to cool in Alberta, too, with employment essentially unchanged over the last month. Similar to the national trend, the unemployment rate held steady at 7.1% while the percentage of Albertans working continues to fall.
Since April, Calgary has stood out for having a high unemployment rate (and among the highest in Canada), but Edmonton has eclipsed Calgary with an unemployment rate of 8.0% while unemployment levels off in Calgary.
From an industry perspective, jobs gains were fairly modest in June. However, one standout since the start of the year has been resource industries which added another 4.5k jobs in June as the oil & gas industry enjoys record levels of production.
Meanwhile, wages continue to grow in line with the national average. Nationally, ~5% wage growth remains higher than the BoC would like to see, but given the slowdown in jobs growth and economic activity more broadly, they likely have sufficient evidence for another rate cut.
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