Canada: Unemployment Rate declines to 5.1% in November vs. 5.3% expected

• Unemployment Rate in Canada declined modestly in November.
• USD/CAD trades in positive territory at around 1.3500.

The data published by Statistics Canada revealed on Friday that the Unemployment Rate declined to 5.1% in November from 5.2% in October. This reading came in better than the market expectation of 5.3%.

Further details of the publication showed that the Net Change in Employment was +10.1K, slightly higher than analysts’ estimate of +5K. 

“The number of people employed on a full-time basis increased by 51,000 (+0.3%) in November,” Statistics Canada noted. “Since November 2021, when full-time employment first surpassed its pre-COVID-19 pandemic level, full-time work has grown by 460,000 (+2.9%), concentrated among core-aged men (+212,000; +3.5%) and women (+169,000; +3.4%).”

Market reaction

USD/CAD rose sharply in the early North American session as the upbeat November jobs report from the US provided a boost to the US Dollar. As of writing, the pair was up 0.5% on the day at 1.3500.