Non-farm payrolls rise by 42,300 in July

Job growth 'quite strong' mid-year

OTTAWA (Reuters) — Total Canadian non-farm payroll employment jumped by 42,300 jobs in July, with growth spread across most sectors, Statistics Canada said on Thursday.

July's gains added to an increase of 18,000 in June. The number of non-farm payroll employees is up 196,200, or 1.3 per cent, since July of last year, with the bulk of the gains occurring since April.

The report was in line with the more closely watched labour force survey, which showed the Canadian economy added 41,700 jobs in July.

The public administration, retail trade and healthcare sectors led the employment gains in July, while jobs in manufacturing and administrative and support services declined.

"It shows Canadian job growth was quite strong at midyear 2014," Bill Adams, senior international economist at PNC Financial Services Group, wrote in a note.

Over the past 12 months, job growth has been strongest in a Statistics Canada category called real estate, rental and leasing, which has had a 4.4 per cent increase. Mining, quarrying and oil and gas extraction has been the next strongest, up 4.2 per cent.

Average weekly earnings were little changed in July, edging up to $940  from $937 in June, though wages were up 3.3 per cent from a year earlier. Employees worked an average 33 hours a week, unchanged from both the previous month and a year earlier.

While the monthly payrolls report comes out a month later than the high-profile labour force survey, economists say it can provide additional insight into the state of the labour market.

It has also received more attention recently because of large swings in the labour force survey. The most recent version of that report shows the economy lost 11,000 jobs in August.

Latest stories