Canada’s unemployment rate stable at over two-year high

The jobless rate in Canada remained stable at 6.1% in April, data by Statistics Canada showed.

It has been the highest unemployment rate since October 2021.

In comparison, a consensus of analyst estimates had pointed to an increase to 6.2%.

The number of unemployed individuals in the country went up by 17,100 from the prior month to 1,337,400 in April.

Youth unemployment rose by 13,500 to 398,000 persons in April, while joblessness among the core working age population decreased by 3,700 to 725,700 persons.

Meanwhile, the number of persons in employment surged by 90,400 to 20.491 million in April, or the most considerable increase in 15 months. The figure also far exceeded market expectations of an 18,000 gain.

Additionally, Canada’s average wage growth slowed to 4.8% YoY in April from 5% YoY in March.

Overall, the data prints hinted at no grave urgency for an imminent interest rate cut by the Bank of Canada.

The USD/CAD currency pair settled 0.05% lower at 1.3669 on Friday. For the week, the major currency pair edged down 0.11%, as it reversed a small gain from the prior week.