By Leah Schnurr
OTTAWA, Nov 6 (Reuters) - Canada created the most jobs in
five months in October, sending the unemployment rate down as
employment in the public administration sector jumped on hiring
related to last month's election.
The economy added 44,400 jobs last month, data from
Statistics Canada showed on Friday, handily topping forecasts
for a gain of 10,000. The unemployment rate, which had drifted
higher recently, eased to 7.0 percent from 7.1 percent.
Canada was in a mild recession in the first half of the
year, but analysts expect the economy has already recovered and
point to the resiliency of the labor market despite layoffs in
the energy sector.
The Bank of Canada has cut interest rates twice this year to
offset the shock of cheaper oil, but the surprisingly upbeat
jobs figures reinforced expectations the central bank will hold
its main policy rate at 0.5 percent when it next meets in
December.
Nonetheless, economists said the details were less rosy,
particularly the gain in part-time employment.
"As much as it's a very strong headline number the
underlying is not quite as promising," said Andrew Kelvin,
senior rates strategist at TD Securities. He said he expects to
see a lot of the election influence unwound.
The Canadian dollar weakened against the greenback as
traders were more focused on strong jobs figures south of the
border that bolstered expectations the Federal Reserve could
begin raising rates next month. CAD/ urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nLNN6MEBHQ
Employment in the public administration sector increased by
32,000 positions in October, coinciding with temporary hiring
related to the federal election.
Even so, hiring picked up in other sectors, including a
17,600 increase in trade, and a 12,900 gain in accommodation and
food services.
The overall job gains also came as the participation rate
increased to 66.0 percent and brought the number of employed
Canadians to over 18 million for the first time.
The increase in employment was the largest since May.
Gains were primarily in part-time jobs, which rose by 35,400
positions compared to a 9,000 gain in full-time jobs.
But the natural resources sector, which has been hurt by the
drop in commodity prices, continued to shed jobs with employment
falling by 8,000. Over the past 12 months, the industry has lost
25,600 jobs, with most of the declines in Alberta.
Separate data showed the value of Canadian building permits
unexpectedly tumbled for the second month in a row in September
on a drop in construction intentions for residential buildings.
urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL1N1310RW
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Graphic - Canada jobs, unemployment http://link.reuters.com/fax39t
Graphic - Full-time vs. part-time http://link.reuters.com/pev29v
Graphic - Temporary vs. permanent http://link.reuters.com/xuf98v
Graphic - Canada building permits http://link.reuters.com/det73t
Graphic - Canada economic dashboard http://graphics.thomsonreuters.com/15/sc-canada/index.html
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(With additional reporting by Alastair Sharp, Fergal Smith and
Susan Taylor in Toronto; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)