Canada lost 68K jobs in September, Statistics Canada says

Canada lost 68,000 jobs in September, Statistics Canada said on Friday, marking a slight decline of 0.3 per cent.

This marks a second month of declining jobs after roughly 42,000 jobs were lost in August.

The unemployment rate ticked up slightly to 6.5 per cent from 6.4 per cent, the data showed.

The losses were split fairly evenly between full-time work (35,000) and part-time work (33,000).

Job losses were concentrated among younger people, with youth aged 15 to 24 losing 48,000 jobs in September, as well as women aged 25 to 54, who lost 28,000 jobs.

The youth unemployment rate was little changed at 13 per cent.

The education sector lost 35,000 jobs, while health and social assistance industry lost 23,000 jobs. Canada also lost 13,000 manufacturing jobs.

The August job losses snapped a hot streak for the labour market, but economists weren’t overly concerned and instead pointed to the relatively stable unemployment rate as a sign the labour market wasn’t taking a major step back.

Friday’s jobs data is the Bank of Canada’s last look at the labour market before its next interest rate decision on Oct. 28.

The central bank has kept its key lending rate unchanged at 2.25 per cent for about a year, but market expectations have been shifting lately, with slightly higher odds we’ll see a hike coming sooner rather than later.

–With files from Canadian Press