Canada: Current soft patch in the labour market should turn out to be transient – NFB

The January Canadian employment report showed a decline in net jobs of 213K in January, a number below expectations. According to analysts at the National Bank of Canada, the numbers reflect the impact of new restrictions put in place to slowdown the COVID-19.

Key Quotes:

“The January employment pullback, a second in a row, was much worse than expected by consensus. This reflects the impact of new restrictions put in place to slowdown the pandemic.”

“If you exclude all the sectors directly impacted by the lockdowns (trade, accommodation/food services, information/culture/recreation and other services), employment was still trending up in January.”

“Another silver lining of this report was the resilience of full-time jobs which have registered another gain in the month, extending to 9 months the current streak of consecutive gains. As a result, full-time jobs are now just 2.9% below their pre-pandemic level. The current soft patch in the Canadian labour market should turn out to be transient.”

“The advent of effective vaccines against the covid-19 virus late last year has boosted the confidence of Canadian enterprises as shown by the Bank of Canada’s Business Outlook Survey indicating higher hiring intentions. This suggests a solid rebound when the pandemic is brought under control.”