Since the global financial crisis of nine years ago, Canada’s economy has recorded the longest net job gain for ten straight months, said Statistics Canada report. According to the report, this trend is fuelled by the rise in full-time jobs against part-time jobs. According to the report, employment trend deviated a little in September from what it was in August.

Employers added over one-hundred and twelve thousand full-time workers. This meant a decline in part-time work by the same magnitude. The report which was released on 5th October shows that unemployment rate remained unchanged at 6.2 per cent, the lowest the nation’s economy has witnessed since the autumn of 2008.

The job gain of September was driven almost entirely by a growth in the public-sector employment. Another important indicator in the report was the growth in wages. In comparison to August, September witnessed a growth in hourly wages grew ahead of inflation at 2.2 per cent, the biggest jump since April 2016.

The Bank of Canada Governor, Stephen Poloz, was thrilled by this year’s economic strength. They are now more attention to key indicators like monthly job surveys to help them predict how long the astonishing good times would last. The central bank will have to increase the interest rate to stay ahead of inflation if it is obvious that the first-half growth will continue for a while.

The employment trend

From the history of Canada, an unemployment rate of 6.2 per cent is considerably low because it has dropped below 6 per cent only a handful times. Judging from the hiring data of the first and second quarter, Canada’s economy still has momentum – but it has slowed in the third quarter. Between July and September, employers added 42,000 new jobs indicating a 0.2 per cent growth rate. This is far lower than the second quarter’s 0.6 per cent and the first quarter’s 0.5 per cent in the first three months of 2017.

Also, the swap of part-time jobs for full-time jobs was a fair trade but what is more important was the rise in wages. For the first time in close to a year, the paycheques of employers grew ahead of inflation. The data on monthly jobs is only a snapshot of the emerging trends which may take a long time to solidify.

There was also a surprising trend in this last quarter; the rise in employment of Canadians of 65 years and above in September. Over 842,000 were added to the employment market, the highest ever in the history of the nation. This is an indication that more people are reaching the retirement age without enough savings to sustain a comfortable life outside a regular salary.

Ontario is leading in job creation

According to Statistics Canada, Ontario added 34,700 jobs in September, the fourth monthly increment in five straight months. Compared to last year, the province witnessed 2.4 per cent increment this year.

Manitoba made away with 5,500 positions which is the first notable decline since April 2016. In general, Canada’s year-on-year employment expanded by 1.8 per cent.  The 10-consecutive months stretch of job creation is the longest streak of total employment gains in Canada since February 2008.