PrefBlog

Jobs, jobs, jobs!

Job creation bounced back in November after disruptions from storms and a major strike, reinforcing a picture of modest employment expansion over the past several months.

The U.S. economy added 227,000 jobs, seasonally adjusted, the Labor Department reported on Friday. With upward revisions to September and October figures, the three-month average gain is 173,000, slightly higher than the average over the six months before that.

The unemployment rate ticked up to 4.2 percent, from 4.1 percent in October, as fewer people were able to find work. But for those who had jobs, wages jumped more than expected and were 4 percent higher than they were a year earlier.

And in the frozen north:

Canada’s unemployment rate jumped to its highest level in years in November, bolstering bets that the Bank of Canada will deliver another outsized interest-rate cut next week to revive a sluggish economy.

The unemployment rate rose to 6.8 per cent in November from 6.5 per cent the previous month, Statistics Canada said Friday in a report. Excluding the pandemic, it was the highest jobless rate since January, 2017.

It was a robust month for hiring: Employment rose by 50,500 or roughly double analyst expectations. But a strong increase in job seekers more than offset the employment gains, resulting in a higher unemployment rate.

Moreover, the details of the hiring burst were less encouraging. The public sector accounted for the bulk of new positions, with a net increase of 45,000 jobs.
…
Average hourly wages rose by an annual 4.1 per cent in November, slowing from 4.9 per cent in October. Total hours worked across the economy edged lower by 0.2 per cent

Darch Keith reports in the Globe:

Today’s unexpected jump in the country’s unemployment rate has traders aggressively adding to bets that the Bank of Canada will announce another large 50 basis point rate cut at its policy meeting next week.

Swaps – pre Announcement

Swaps – pre Announcement

It’s interesting to see the decline in the projected December, 2025, rate from 2.74% to 2.61%. This contrasts with the 2.81% post-inflation level on November 19.

This entry was posted on Friday, December 6th, 2024 at 11:18 pm and is filed under Market Action. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.