The Canadian economy added a surprising 67,000 jobs in October and the unemployment rate ticked down to 6.9 per cent, Statistics Canada said on Friday, beating economists' expectations for the month.
While the majority of the jobs gained in October were part-time positions, "that doesn't do much to detract" from the strong headline number, wrote CIBC senior economist Andrew Grantham.
By sector, the influx of work was driven by wholesale and retail trade — which added 41,000 jobs — as well as transportation and warehousing, information, culture and recreation, and utilities.
The construction sector shed 15,000 jobs.
Private sector jobs rose by 73,000 in October, while the number of public employees stayed flat.
The youth unemployment rate, meanwhile, fell for the first time since February as young people aged 15 to 24 gained jobs, Statistics Canada said.
And Hencic concurred: "We don't think that this is really moving the needle for the Bank of Canada in the near term. »