Canada: Employment slipped 2k in June - RBC

Nathan Janzen, senior economist at the Royal Bank of Canada, notes that the Canadian employment slipped 2k in June,  but was still up 421k from a year ago.

Key Quotes

“The tiny dip in employment – given the size of ‘normal’ swings in this notoriously volatile report – does nothing to change the narrative that Canadian labour markets still look relatively solid.  Employment is still up 421k from a year ago.”

“The unemployment rate ticked up to 5.5%, but from a new multi-decade low of 5.4% in May, and labour force participation rates are still sitting around all-time highs once controlling for population aging.”

“Probably more importantly, wage growth jumped to 3.8% in June from 2.8% in May.  The wage numbers, like the headline employment count, are notoriously volatile, so we would take the latest surge higher with a big grain of salt.”