People walk past a job board by a street in Toronto, Canada, on May 6, 2022. Canada's employment was little changed in April after two consecutive months of growth and the unemployment rate edged down 0.1 percentage point to 5.2 percent, Statistics Canada said on Friday. (Photo by Zou Zheng/Xinhua)
OTTAWA, May 6 (Xinhua) -- Canada's employment was little changed in April after two consecutive months of growth and the unemployment rate edged down 0.1 percentage point to 5.2 percent, Statistics Canada said on Friday.
The employment rate held steady at 61.9 percent. Employment rose among core-aged women and declined among core-aged men in April. Employment gains in professional, scientific and technical services, as well as in public administration, were offset by declines in construction and retail trade, the national statistical office said.
Unemployment rate continued to decline after reaching a record low of 5.3 percent in March. The unemployment rate for people aged 25 to 54 fell 0.2 percentage point to 4.3 percent, the lowest recorded rate since comparable data became available in 1976, according to the agency.
Long-term unemployment accounted for 20.6 percent of total unemployment in April 2022, up from the pre-pandemic February 2020 level of 15.6 percent, Statistics Canada said.
Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce economist Andrew Grantham said in a market report that the data were a little weaker than expected, but not by enough to change the overall view of a very strong labor market.
As such, the Bank of Canada shouldn't be deterred from delivering another non-standard 50 basis point rate hike at its next meeting in June, he said. ■
A man walks past a job board by a street in Toronto, Canada, on May 6, 2022. Canada's employment was little changed in April after two consecutive months of growth and the unemployment rate edged down 0.1 percentage point to 5.2 percent, Statistics Canada said on Friday. (Photo by Zou Zheng/Xinhua)
A woman walks past a job board by a street in Toronto, Canada, on May 6, 2022. Canada's employment was little changed in April after two consecutive months of growth and the unemployment rate edged down 0.1 percentage point to 5.2 percent, Statistics Canada said on Friday. (Photo by Zou Zheng/Xinhua)