Yahoo Finance Canada unemployment rate falls to 5.4%, the lowest ever on record
The Canadian economy added 27,700 jobs in May, following a record-setting 106,500 positions in April.
Almost all of the new jobs were full-time.
Economists were expecting 5,000 jobs to be created.
Statistics Canada says the unemployment rate fell to 5.4 per cent, from 5.7 per cent which is the lowest since record-keeping began ins 1976.
Job losses in Newfoundland and Labrador as well as Prince Edward Island were offset by gains in Ontario, British Columbia, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick.
More than 20,000 people found work in health care and social assistance. There were also notable gains in self-employment.
“Today's labour market reading continues to the string of healthy data releases and reinforces our view that second quarter growth will outstrip the Bank of Canada's published forecast,” said Royce Mendes, senior economist at CIBC, in a research note.
“The Canadian dollar is trading stronger, but that's partly attributable to the soft non-farm payroll print in the U.S. As a result of the disappointment on US data, Canadian yields have fallen with their southern counterparts.”
Jessy Bains is a senior reporter at Yahoo Finance Canada. Follow him on Twitter @jessysbains
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