In a span of less than two hours, Statistics Canada reported that the economy lost 71,000 jobs in November and the Bank of Canada said Stephen Poloz would retire when his term as governor ends in June.
The jobs numbers were followed by signs of panic, even though StatCan had reported previously that employers created more than 81,000 positions in August, one the biggest increases on record. Thousands of Canadians indeed suffered that indignity. Thousands of others arrived home with the opposite message. StatCan’s measure of the trend in hiring rose by 2,900, the smallest increase since November 2015, but not the catastrophe signalled by an isolated reading of the headline number from the LFS.
To be sure, Morneau might be letting denialism creep in when he says, as he did on Monday, that “we’re dealing with an economy that’s strong.” Gross domestic product advanced at an annual rate of 1.3 per cent in the third quarter, slower than the rate at which the central bank thinks the economy can grow without triggering inflation. Bank of Nova Scotia’s real-time forecast of fourth-quarter GDP growth dropped to 0.6 per cent after its economist loaded the November hiring data into their model. The labour market remains weak in Alberta and Saskatchewan, a difficult situation that can be obscured by the headline numbers.
Really? Loss of 71,000 jobs in a month ignore it while the US gained 230,000 the same month Sure if you say so lol!