Canada’s economy adds more jobs than expected in May

Canada’s economy has created 26,700 jobs in May, following an employment growth of 90,400 in April.

In comparison, market consensus had pointed to 22,500 growth.

Part-time employment went up by 62,000 in May and full-time employment decreased by 36,000.

Job gains in May were observed mostly within the services-providing sector, as follows:

– health care and social assistance (29,900 new jobs);
– finance, insurance, real estate, rental & leasing (28,800 new jobs);
– business, building & other support services (18,700 new jobs).

Conversely, jobs were shed mostly within the goods-producing sector, as follows:

– construction (29,600 fewer jobs);
– utilities (5,400 fewer jobs).

Meanwhile, the jobless rate in the country edged up to 6.2% in May from 6.1% in April, data by Statistics Canada showed.

The unemployed population rose by 28,000 to 1.365 million in May.

The USD/CAD currency pair settled 0.69% higher at 1.3764 on Friday. For the week, the major currency pair advanced 1.02%, as it reversed a loss from the prior week.