Employment growth in Canada continued its strong pace in September 2007. The Canadian economy has created even more new jobs through the first nine months of this year than during the same period last year (+283,000 versus +219,000, for a net gain of +64,000). The construction sector, with a net gain of +43,000 jobs, has played a significant role in the overall jobs strength in 2007.

Canada’s Unemployment Rate at 33-year Low
Furthermore, the unemployment rate has dropped to 5.9%. The last time the unemployment rate was below 6.0% was 33 years ago, in November 1974. The tightness in labour markets is starting to be reflected in wage rates. The year-over-year increase in average hourly wages in the latest month was +4.2%, well ahead of general price inflation (+1.7% for the latest Consumer Price Index). The current figure for wage gains is the highest in the history of this series, which dates back to 1997.

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