OTTAWA - Canada's unemployment rate edged up to 6.2 per cent in October from 6.1 per cent the previous month, Statistics Canada said Friday, even as the economy unexpectedly added thousands of new positions despite struggling to avoid a recession amid a global economic slowdown.
There were 9,500 jobs created during the month, compared to a gain of 107,000 positions in September, the federal agency said.
Many analysts were expecting a loss of about 10,000 jobs for the month."Following a large gain the month before, employment was little changed in October as an increase in full-time work was mostly offset by losses in part time," the agency said.
"The unemployment rate edged up 0.1 percentage points to 6.2 per cent, driven by an increase in the number of people looking for work," it said.
"Strong employment growth in public administration in October was spurred by hiring for the federal election. At the same time, employment declined in accommodation and food services. There was little change for all other industries."
Alberta's unemployment rate remained the lowest in the country at 3.7 per cent.
The annual growth in average hourly wages for October was 4.3 per cent, above the current 3.4 per cent rate of inflation.
"This report was better than expected, though it simply delays the inevitable and much of the strength came from a one-off factor which was the election," said Charmaine Buskas, economics strategist at TD Securities.
"We still expect that the Canadian labour market will be retrenching going forward in response to cooling U.S. demand for Canadian goods and slowing in domestic economic conditions. The fact that wage pressures have also started to moderate is good news for the Bank of Canada, which is clearly on an easing cycle."
The central bank cut its key lending rate by a quarter point to 2.25 per cent on Oct. 21. The next scheduled rate announcement is Dec. 9.
Douglas Porter, economist at BMO Capital Markets, said last week that with unemployment being a lagging indicator, the worst could be yet to come.
"If the economy is indeed sagging into a recession, as we expect, the real job declines will emerge in the months ahead," he said.
The Canadian dollar was trading around 83.80 cents US shortly after the employment numbers were released. The loonie closed at 83.92 cents US on Thursday.
