Canada adds more than 32,000 jobs in March

The March gains were driven by a surge in full-time work. The labour-market survey showed the workforce added 68,300 full-time positions, while the number of part-time jobs decreased by 35,900.

But looking underneath the headline numbers of the report, some economists argued the results were more of a mixed bag and contained little information to significantly alter the Bank of Canada’s thinking ahead of its April 18 interest-rate decision.

For instance, the data showed that 19,600 of the new employee positions created were in the public sector. By comparison, the number of private-sector workers declined by 7,000.

Toronto-Dominion Bank senior economist Brian DePratto also noted that 19,800 of the new jobs came in the less desirable category of self employment, which is a classification that includes people working in a family business without pay.

DePratto also pointed out that the number of hours worked remained relatively flat, as did wage growth, which has been hovering just above 3% for a few months. While wage growth has improved considerably since the middle of 2017, DePratto thinks central bank governor Stephen Poloz is looking for wage growth above 4%, where it was before the 2008-09 recession.

“Some strong elements, but some elements were a little bit on the weak side,” DePratto said of the overall jobs report.

Compared with 12 months earlier, the national workforce expanded 1.6% with the creation of 296,200 jobs. The entire year-over-year growth was fuelled by 335,200 new full-time positions.

But in recent months the numbers have shown some evidence that Canada’s red-hot labour market could be starting to cool down as it reaches full capacity, which has been widely expected.

Statistics Canada said employment declined by about 40,000 jobs over the first quarter of 2018 for a decline of 0.2%.

Royal Bank of Canada deputy chief economist Dawn Desjardins said the economy disappointed in those first three months of the year by posting its first quarterly employment decline since 2010.

Still, she cited several recent data points, such as wage growth, the low unemployment rate and rising core inflation, as reasons for the central bank to inch closer towards another rate hike. Poloz has raised the benchmark rate three times since last July.

“(They are) testing the bank’s argument that slack in the labour market remains,” Desjardins wrote in a research report.

“When you layer on the stealth increase in core inflation, the case for the bank to delay pulling back on the currently highly stimulative monetary conditions until the second half of the year is weakening.”

The Bank of Canada has repeatedly highlighted wage growth as a key indicator.

Average hourly wage growth strengthened in March to 3.3%, up from 3.1% the previous month, Statistics Canada survey said Friday. Wage growth has been moving upwards since it bottomed out at 0.5% in April 2017.

Central Canada saw the biggest job gains in March as the two largest provinces — Ontario and Quebec — each added more than 10,000 net new positions.

Quebec gained 16,000 net new jobs, including 28,600 full-time positions, while Ontario added 10,600 net new jobs, including 16,300 full-time positions.

For Ontario, however, the gain only represented a 0.1% increase compared to the previous month. Quebec saw growth of 0.4%.

By percentage, Saskatchewan and Alberta each saw solid monthly growth. Saskatchewan’s labour force expanded 0.7%, while Alberta’s grew 0.4%. Alberta’s jobless rate fell to 6.3%, from 6.7.

The youth unemployment rate dipped last month to 10.9%, down from 11.1% in February, following a net gain of 17,700 new jobs.

By industry, goods-producing sectors added 21,700 positions, mostly in construction. Services sectors created 10,600 jobs, with the bulk of the increase coming from new positions in public administration.