Canadian Labor Market Talking Points:
- Canada added 30.3k jobs in February, beating the expectation of 11.0k.
- The Canadian Dollar shows signs of strength following a weak start to 2020.
- This morning’s jobs report complements Canada’s recent GDP beat
Canada Net Change in Employment Beats the Expectation
Statistics Canada released their monthly measure of the Canadian labor market this morning. February brought a change in employment of 30.3k versus the expectation of 11k. Since the beginning of 2019, Canada has added roughly 298k jobs to their labor market, and in the same time period, total hours worked has increased by over half a percentage point. Despite beating the expectation, Canada's unemployment rate rose from 5.5% to 5.6% in February.
Chart Prepared by Austin Sealey; Canadian Net Change in Employment
This morning’s release comes in following Wednesday’s 50-bps rate cut from 1.75% to 1.25%, mirroring the 50-bps rate cut out of the US on Tuesday on the back of coronavirus concerns. This decision was the first time that BOC’s Governor Poloz has cut the benchmark rate since 2015. Following this decision, the Canadian Dollar slumped to test resistance at 1.3420.
The Canadian Dollar has been following a risk off attitude in the market as preferences have shifted toward safe havens amid the global health emergency. As the Canadian Dollar drifts further into breakout territory, markets eye US CPI and the Canadian housing market in the week ahead for a sign of things to come.
--Written by Austin Sealey, Market Analyst for DailyFX.com
