Most of Canada to receive emergency alert test today
The federal government will test its capacity to issue emergency alerts today, with the exception of Ontario, where the test will take place on May 15.
The Canadian economy posted a modest gain in employment in September, reversing some of the losses seen in previous months and suggesting the labour market remains exceptionally tight.
The unemployment rate for the month fell to 5.2 per cent as fewer people looked for work, down from 5.4 per cent the previous August, Statistics Canada reported in its labour force survey released on Friday.
Meanwhile,the economy added 21,000 jobs.
The bumpin employment was expected as job losses in the education sector during the summer were reversed with the reopening of schools.
The report said gains in education, health care and social assistance were offset by losses in several other sectors, including manufacturing and information, culture and recreation.
Canada's labour force participation rate -- the percentage of people who want and are looking for a job -- edged down slightly by 0.1 per cent in September.
The rise in employment comes after three consecutive months of job losses in the Canadian economy.
The latest jobs numbers reinforce that the labour market is still very tight, said TD director of economics James Orlando.
"We still have lots of job vacancies out there, we still have a supply-demand imbalance for labour in Canada," Orlando said.
As the Bank of Canada raises interest rates aggressively to tame high inflation, the Canadian economy is expected to feel the effects of higher interest rates both in its economic growth and employment numbers.
The central bank has suggested tight labour markets are partly to blame for high inflation.
"We're a long way from that being fixed," Orlando said.
Since March, the Bank of Canada has raised its key interest rate from 0.25 to 3.25 per cent, one of the fastest rate hike cycles in its history. With inflation still running well above its two per cent target, the central bank is expected to deliver another rate increase on Oct. 26.
As more sectors of the economy begin to feel the cooling effects of higher interest rates, TD is forecasting unemployment will rise to 5.6 per cent this year and will later peak at 6.5 per cent.
Friday's report also showed that wages are continuing to grow, though at a slower pace than the cost of living. In September, wages were up by 5.2 per cent compared with a year ago, with the average hourly wage at $31.67.
It marked the fourth straight month of five per cent or higher wage growth.
In August, the annual inflation rate was seven per cent.
Indeed senior economist Brendon Bernard said the recent gain in wages "has been a long time coming."
"The stronger wage growth we've seen is in response to the surge in inflation and employers at least partially offsetting the rising cost of living through larger paychecks," Bernard said.
The Bank of Canada is monitoring the pace of wage growth over risks of a wage-price spiral, where higher prices lead to higher wages and vice versa.
The report also looked at retirement among Canadians under the age of 65, one key factor in the apparent shortage of workers. Nearly one million Canadians between the ages of 55 and 64 said they were retired in September.
Over the last 20 years, the labour force participation rate has fallen steadily, largely due to an aging population.
The federal agency said since September 2019, the number of Canadians aged 65 and older grew by 11.6 per cent, while the working-age population grew by 3.5 per cent.
Bernard said economic cycles have largely been driving labour market tightness, but that the aging population trend "is constantly in the background."
As children headed back to school in September, the report also examined the effect of childcare responsibilities on career decisions. Despite a record-high employment rate, women between the ages of 25 and 54 with children under the age of 16 were twice as likely to decide not to apply for a job or promotion over the last year than their male counterparts.
Women were also twice as likely as men to report helping their children with homework and home-schooling most or all of the time.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 7, 2022.
The federal government will test its capacity to issue emergency alerts today, with the exception of Ontario, where the test will take place on May 15.
Prince Harry, the Duke of Sussex, has made headlines with his recent arrival in the U.K., this time to celebrate all things Invictus. But upon the prince landing in the U.K., we have already had confirmation that King Charles III won't have time to see his youngest son during his brief visit.
An Ontario man found out that a line of credit he thought was insured actually isn't after his wife of 50 years died.
After more than a century, Boy Scouts of America is rebranding as Scouting America, another major shakeup for an organization that once proudly resisted change.
A first-of-its-kind Canadian research study is working towards a major medical breakthrough for a brain disorder, believed to be caused by repeated head injuries, that can only be detected after death.
In March, Indonesian officials and local fishermen rescued 75 people from the overturned hull of a boat off the coast of Indonesia. Until now, little was known about why the boat capsized.
With Donald Trump sitting just feet away, Stormy Daniels testified Tuesday at the former president's hush money trial about a sexual encounter the porn actor says they had in 2006 that resulted in her being paid to keep silent during the presidential race 10 years later.
An Ontario woman said it would have been impossible to buy a house without her mother – an anecdote that animates the fact that over 17 per cent of Canadian homeowners born in the ‘90s own their property with their parents, according to a new report.
Canadian immigrants threatened by hostile regimes are urging parliamentarians to quickly pass the 'Countering Foreign Interference Act' so they can feel safe living in their adopted home.
An Ontario man says he paid more than $7,700 for a luxury villa he found on a popular travel website -- but the listing was fake.
Whether passionate about Poirot or hungry for Holmes, Winnipeg mystery obsessives have had a local haunt for over 30 years in which to search out their latest page-turners.
Eighty-two-year-old Susan Neufeldt and 90-year-old Ulrich Richter are no spring chickens, but their love blossomed over the weekend with their wedding at Pine View Manor just outside of Rosthern.
Alberta Ballet's double-bill production of 'Der Wolf' and 'The Rite of Spring' marks not only its final show of the season, but the last production for twin sisters Alexandra and Jennifer Gibson.
A mother goose and her goslings caused a bit of a traffic jam on a busy stretch of the Trans-Canada Highway near Vancouver Saturday.
A British Columbia mayor has been censured by city council – stripping him of his travel and lobbying budgets and removing him from city committees – for allegedly distributing a book that questions the history of Indigenous residential schools in Canada.
Three men in Quebec from the same family have fathered more than 600 children.
A group of SaskPower workers recently received special recognition at the legislature – for their efforts in repairing one of Saskatchewan's largest power plants after it was knocked offline for months following a serious flood last summer.
A police officer on Montreal's South Shore anonymously donated a kidney that wound up drastically changing the life of a schoolteacher living on dialysis.