January sees 34,000 jobs added in Canada, Alberta loses 18,900

There were 34,000 jobs added to the Canadian economy in January. On Friday, Statistics Canada said that the increase in jobs was due to higher numbers in construction, manufacturing and agricultural industries.

The monthly labour force survey showed that the unemployment rate dropped to 5.5 percent from 5.6 percent in December.

Refinitiv, a financial markets data provider, noted that this is higher than the estimated 15,000 jobs that were expected for January by economists.

There were 49,000 jobs gained in the goods-producing sector and 11,500 in agriculture. The construction sub sector gained 15,800 jobs while 20,500 were added for manufacturing.

It was a different story for the services-producing sector as this group lost 14,500 jobs. This section was heavily affected by the sub sectors of social assistance and health care where 16,000 jobs were lost.

January saw the amount of full-time jobs increase by 35,700 and part-time jobs drop by 1,200.

Many of the jobs were gained in Quebec as they added 19,100. Manitoba gained 6,500 and New Brunswick added 4,600. Alberta saw a loss of 18,900 jobs.

The Bank of Canada is open to interest rate cuts in the future if the weakness of 2019’s economy is more persistent than estimated.

According to Governor Stephen Poloz, developments in consumer spending, business investment and in the housing market will be monitored closely by the bank.