The Canadian economy has lost an estimated 65,500 jobs in July, and significantly pushed unemployment rate to 7.1%, the statistics Canada data showed on Friday.
According to the data, a large percent of the job loss occurred in part-time works, with the service sector most affected.
The North American country economy remained resilience in the last few months in the face of U.S. tariffs, but the number of job losses in August reached the worst level since January 2022.
“I think it simply reinforces the point that the economy is struggling with the uncertainty on the trade front,” said Doug Porter, Chief Economist at BMO Capital Markets, who expects a rate cut.
Persistent uncertainty around U.S. trade policy has kept Canadian businesses on the edge, leading to minimal hiring and investment.
Since the start of 2019, public-sector jobs are up by almost one-quarter, while private-sector payroll positions have increased by 10%. Meanwhile, the number of self-employed Canadians declined over the same period, suggesting a deterioration of the climate for entrepreneurship in the country. That’s troubling.
