Canada payrolls show Sept. job losses, contrasts with other data

Non-farm payrolls fall 52,500 compared to August

(Reuters) A secondary employment report for Canada on Wednesday showed total non-farm payrolls fell 52,500 in September from August, sharply contradicting an earlier report of outsized job gains that month.

Payroll employment fell in the month after six consecutive monthly increases, with the largest declines in manufacturing; accommodation and food services; administrative and support services, and other services, said Statistics Canada.

The report — the Survey of Employment, Payroll and Hours — obtains data from a business census whereas the country's most closely watched employment report is the Labour Force Survey, which is based on interviews with households.

The market-moving Labour Force Survey on Oct. 5 showed the Canadian economy added a thumping 52,100 jobs in September, almost all of them full-time.

The unemployment rate rose to 7.4 per cent from 7.3 per cent in August as more people participated in the labour market, Statistics Canada said at that time.

Methodological differences bring slightly different results from the two surveys but usually the trend is similar. Rarely do they contradict each other so starkly.

The labour force survey can be volatile and economists warn against reading too much into one month's data.

The six-month average of 21,600 jobs created per month more accurately reflects an economy that is growing slowly but steadily, they say.

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