Canada’s unemployment rate edged up to 6.6 per cent in August, scaling a peak last seen more than seven years ago excluding the pandemic years of 2020 and 2021, data showed on Friday.
The economy added a net 22,100 jobs in August, fully driven by part-time employment, Statistics Canada said.
Analysts polled by Reuters had forecast a jobless rate of 6.5 per cent and net job additions of 25,000 in August.
The Canadian dollar strengthened to C$1.3467 to the U.S. dollar, or 74.26 U.S. cents, up 0.3 per cent on the day.
Canada’s economy had been losing steam under the pressure of high interest rates, and most of the growth seen earlier in the year was primarily led by increase in population.
But as GDP growth has lagged population growth, unemployment has crawled up, stoking fears of a recession.
Canada’s unemployment rate has risen by 1.6 percentage points since January …