BCA Research Reports on Canada's upbeat jobs report:
The Canadian economy continues to show signs of gradual improvement.
"Domestic activity has picked up from the depressed levels in H1 2009, as evidenced by the leading economic indicator and sentiment survey’s. Part of this rebound can be attributed to a leveling off in the pace of job losses over the past few months. Today’s release showed that overall employment increased by 27,000 (from -44,500), although all of the gains came from part-time work."
"This is consistent with business survey’s that suggest employers are becoming more upbeat about future sales prospects. Importantly, employment among private sector employees increased in August, the first increase in this group since September 2008. Statistics Canada noted today that “the trend in employment has changed recently. Since employment peaked in October 2008, total employment has fallen by 387,000 (-2.3%). Over the last five months, however, employment has fallen by 31,000, a much smaller decline than the 357,000 observed during the five months following October 2008.”
"Bottom line: The Canadian economy still faces headwinds from a strong currency and weak demand from its main trading partners but the underlying trend is towards further improvement. We continue to favor the Canadian dollar versus the U.S. dollar."
Source: BCA Research
