“The data reported this morning erred more towards outright improvement,” Nathan Janzen, assistant chief economist at RBC, said.
“Job growth was concentrated in the private sector, improvement in the most trade-exposed manufacturing and transportation sectors, wage growth accelerating, and the labour force participation rate rising.”
Janzen cautioned, however, that the figures are “notoriously volatile, arguing against reading too much into any one report.”
He added, “The data is consistent with our own base case projections that the BoC will not cut interest rates further.”
Wage growth picked up, with average hourly earnings for permanent employees rising 4.0% year-over-year, up from 3.6% in September. Yet, most of October’s job gains were part-time positions, and total hours worked fell for the second consecutive month, partly due to temporary labour disputes, including the Alberta teachers’ strike.