Canadian employment fell 62,600 last month, a bit weaker than expected, following seven months of recovery (see chart below). The rapid rise in COVID cases and the ensuing lockdown measures in many key regions caused the net loss in jobs in the mid-December survey. Especially hard hit were workers at restaurants and hotels who suffered a hefty 56,700 employment loss. The […]
Canadian Housing Remained Strong in November Today’s release of November housing data by the Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA) shows national home sales continued to run at historically strong levels last month. Competition among buyers remains intense in the detached-home market and townhouses. Still, condo apartment sales-relative-to-new-listings have slowed as new listings surged, especially in the City of Toronto. Thanks to the […]
Bank of Canada Confirms Commitment To Low Interest Rates Despite the good news on the vaccine front since the Governing Council’s last meeting in late October, the Bank of Canada reasserted its commitment to provide extraordinary monetary policy support for many months to come. The statement released today reiterated that the Bank will hold the policy interest rate at its […]
Canada’s Jobs Recovery Slowed Again in November With Second Wave The November Labour Force Survey, released this morning by Stats Canada, showed an employment increase of 62,000 compared to 83,600 in October–well below the 378,000 gain in September. This was the weakest job growth in the past six months since the economic recovery began (see chart below). The rapid runup […]