The Canadian economy added 10,000 jobs last month, in line with economists’ expectations, and enough to bring the unemployment rate down to 5.1%.
Statistics Canada reported Friday that several industries added jobs, including finance, insurance, real estate, rental and leasing, manufacturing, as well as information, culture and recreation.
“At the same time, it fell in several sectors, including construction and wholesale and retail trade,” the data agency said.
The situation was similar across regions, with Quebec adding more than 28,000 jobs, but this surge was offset by declines in five provinces, including Alberta and British Columbia.
On the positive side, the economy added 50,700 full-time jobs during the month. This was offset by a loss of 40,600 part-time positions.
Wages increased at an annual rate of 5.6%, the same pace of growth as the previous month. A worker’s typical hourly rate was $32.11 during the month. That’s an increase of $1.71 over last year, but with the official inflation rate at 6.9%this means that workers are still not keeping up with the increase in their cost of living.
More jobs, but also more sick workers
More Canadians were working during the month, but the data agency reported that many were unable to work for part of the month due to illness.
“Amid high cases of influenza and other respiratory viruses in many parts of the country, 6.8% of employees were absent due to illness or disability during the November reporting week,” said said Statscan.
November is usually a busy month for sick calls even when there is no pandemic, but before 2020 the typical November would see around 5.8% of workers calling sick during the month.
This ratio peaked at 10% in January 2022, when the Omicron variant of COVID-19 hit Canada hard.
Desjardins economist Royce Mendes says the rise in sick calls is worth watching.
“The number of Canadians catching colds, flus and other respiratory viruses increased during the month, a theme that may continue through the winter,” he said.
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