Hi All,

Canada - Reuters 
 
 
Meager Canadian July Jobs Growth Disappoints

Fri Aug 6,11:54 AM ET  

By Gilbert Le Gras 

OTTAWA (Reuters) - Canada's jobless rate fell in July as thousands of
people stopped looking for work, but the economy created fewer jobs than
analysts had expected and all the new jobs were part-time, Statistics
Canada said on Friday. 

The unemployment rate fell to 7.2 percent from 7.3 percent in June but
because 10,400 people quit looking for work rather than 25,000 more people
being hired as analysts had forecast. 

"Canadian employment was a little light at 8,700 in July, but should
not be viewed all that negatively in our opinion, since the figure is
coming off three months of strong job gains of 130,000," Merrill Lynch
economist Robert Spector said. 

An increase in 47,700 part-time jobs was largely offset by the loss of
38,900 full-time jobs in July, Statscan said. 

The Canadian dollar dropped one third of a cent against the U.S. dollar to
touch the day's low so far at C$1.3221, or 75.64 U.S. cents, immediately
after the report. 

It later recovered to C$1.3096, or 76.36 U.S. cents as the greenback
tumbled in response to weaker than expected U.S. jobs data. 

"Despite the fact that the Canadian job market performed below
expectations in July, the report is not a disaster," National Bank
economist Marc Pinsonneault said. 

"Factories have been creating jobs since the beginning of the
year," he said. "This suggests that the export sector is still
gaining momentum." 

Manufacturing expanded by 20,700 jobs, mostly in the industrial heartland
of Ontario where the gains were spread across a number of industries. It
was the biggest rise since February 2003 when 18,100 factory jobs were
created, Statscan said. 

Builders hired 19,100 new workers in July, adding to gains in the previous
four months. 

On the services side of the economy, which accounts for two-thirds of
output, 23,500 health and social workers lost their jobs in July, as did
20,200 educators, Statscan said. 

The private sector grew by 28,200 jobs while the public sector shed 29,800,
Statscan said. 

Average hourly wages of permanent employees -- an indicator of inflationary
pressures -- grew 2.52 percent year-on-year compared with 3.29 percent in
June. 

"There are enough solid results here to count it as neutral. This is
the last jobs report that the Bank of Canada will have to work with at its
next rate decision on Sept. 8, and it really won't make much impact on that
call," BMO Nesbitt Burns' chief economist Sherry Cooper said. 

Many analysts say they expect the Bank of Canada to increase rates by 25
basis points on Sept. 8. 


(Additional reporting by Ka Yan Ng in Toronto.) 
 


From the desk of...


   Michael
... For any God-fearing young Canadian the ultimate reward is to be chosen
for the NHL All-Star game. If he later goes to Heaven, that is so much
gravy.
- Eric Nicol and Dave More, humorists, The Joy of Hockey. 1978



--- Devil's Point System 6.66