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 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.
The 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.
