Canada's booming economy created more jobs than forecast in November and pushed the unemployment rate to its lowest in more than 30 years, sealing expectations the Bank of Canada will hike interest rates again next week.
The Canadian dollar jumped on Friday's news that the economy had created 30,600 jobs, helping to cut the unemployment rate to 6.4 percent from 6.6 percent in October.
Canada's economy is running at close to capacity and the central bank is expected next Tuesday to raise its overnight rate to 3.25 percent. It has lifted the benchmark rate twice since early September.
Statistics Canada said 50,200 full-time jobs were added in November while 19,600 part-time positions were lost. Even the long-suffering manufacturing sector had something to smile about, creating 6,800 jobs after four consecutive months of losses.
The sector, suffering from the effects of a high dollar, rising energy prices and stiffer foreign competition, has lost 99,700 jobs over the last year. The average hourly wage of permanent employees rose by 3.52 percent from November 2004.
Statistics Canada said the construction sector added 24,100 jobs in November while the accommodation and food sector created 23,200 jobs. The biggest loser was the health care and social assistance sector, which lost 17,100 jobs, while the finance and insurance sector shed 15,000 positions.
Statistics Canada said the jobless rate had been as low as 6.4 percent in late 1974 but cautioned against making direct comparisons because the agency's data compilation methods have changed since then.