Canadian employers kept up their hiring pace in February, but the unemployment rate rose amid continual population growth, Statistics Canada said Friday.
The agency said 41,000 net new jobs were added last month, driven by gains in full-time positions. The unemployment rate ticked up to 5.8 per cent.
That follows a drop of 0.1 percentage points in the unemployment rate for January.
Employment gains were spread across industries in the services sector in February, StatCan said.
The Bank of Canada has been watching for softening in the labour market and a cooling in wage growth as it gauges how long its benchmark interest rate needs to stay elevated. The central bank held its policy rate steady again on Wednesday and said it’s “too early” to cut rates.
More to come.
