AGL 38.54 Increased By ▲ 0.97 (2.58%)
AIRLINK 129.50 Decreased By ▼ -3.00 (-2.26%)
BOP 5.61 Decreased By ▼ -0.03 (-0.53%)
CNERGY 3.86 Increased By ▲ 0.09 (2.39%)
DCL 8.73 Decreased By ▼ -0.14 (-1.58%)
DFML 41.76 Increased By ▲ 0.76 (1.85%)
DGKC 88.30 Decreased By ▼ -1.86 (-2.06%)
FCCL 35.00 Decreased By ▼ -0.08 (-0.23%)
FFBL 67.35 Increased By ▲ 0.85 (1.28%)
FFL 10.61 Increased By ▲ 0.46 (4.53%)
HUBC 108.76 Increased By ▲ 2.36 (2.22%)
HUMNL 14.66 Increased By ▲ 1.26 (9.4%)
KEL 4.75 Decreased By ▼ -0.11 (-2.26%)
KOSM 6.95 Increased By ▲ 0.10 (1.46%)
MLCF 41.65 Decreased By ▼ -0.15 (-0.36%)
NBP 59.60 Increased By ▲ 1.02 (1.74%)
OGDC 183.00 Increased By ▲ 1.75 (0.97%)
PAEL 26.25 Increased By ▲ 0.55 (2.14%)
PIBTL 5.97 Increased By ▲ 0.14 (2.4%)
PPL 146.70 Decreased By ▼ -1.70 (-1.15%)
PRL 23.61 Increased By ▲ 0.39 (1.68%)
PTC 16.56 Increased By ▲ 1.32 (8.66%)
SEARL 68.30 Decreased By ▼ -0.49 (-0.71%)
TELE 7.23 Decreased By ▼ -0.01 (-0.14%)
TOMCL 35.95 Decreased By ▼ -0.05 (-0.14%)
TPLP 7.85 Increased By ▲ 0.45 (6.08%)
TREET 14.20 Decreased By ▼ -0.04 (-0.28%)
TRG 50.45 Decreased By ▼ -0.40 (-0.79%)
UNITY 26.75 Increased By ▲ 0.35 (1.33%)
WTL 1.21 No Change ▼ 0.00 (0%)
BR100 9,806 Increased By 37.8 (0.39%)
BR30 29,678 Increased By 278.1 (0.95%)
KSE100 92,304 Increased By 366.3 (0.4%)
KSE30 28,840 Increased By 96.6 (0.34%)

Canada added 81,000 jobs in August after months of stagnant employment growth, the government reported Friday, days before the kickoff of election campaigning. But the unemployment rate held steady at 5.7 percent as more people entered the labor force in search of work. A strong economy augurs well for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau as he readies to face off for a second term in a tight election race against his main rival, Tory leader Andrew Scheer. Polls show the two main political parties are neck and neck ahead of the October 21 voting.
However, the world's 10th largest economy is forecast to slow. The bulk of the employment gains, according to Statistics Canada, were in the key election battlegrounds of eastern Ontario and Quebec, while the prairie provinces of Manitoba and Saskatchewan and New Brunswick on the Atlantic coast saw smaller gains. Most of the jobs were part- time.
More people were employed in finance, insurance, real estate, rental and leasing; educational services; and in professional, scientific and technical services, while employment declined in business, building and other support services, it said. More youths aged 15 to 24 and people aged 55 and over were also working in August.
Earlier this week the Bank of Canada held its key lending rate at 1.75 percent, saying it expects the Canadian economy to slow in the second half of the year. A bump in domestic growth of 3.7 percent in the second quarter was likely temporary, the central bank concluded, amid an outlook dampened by the China-US trade conflict. "If the Bank of Canada was on the fence about cutting rates in October, today's jobs numbers might be one further push towards standing pat," commented CIBC analyst Avery Shenfeld in a research note, predicting that the central bank may look to cut rates in December at the earliest.

Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2019

Comments

Comments are closed.