Utoo Radio with Other News Sources - June 10, 2024 - Canadian jobseekers are facing increasing challenges as a weakening economy and high interest rates push business owners to limit hiring.

Statistics Canada's latest labour force survey showed that the economy added 27,000 jobs last month, but this was too modest to prevent the unemployment rate from rising by a tenth of a percentage point to 6.2%. The report suggests that the Canadian labour market is struggling to meet the needs of a growing number of jobseekers.

The main numbers were returning to a familiar trend: the Canadian job numbers eking out a decent overall headline gain, but not matching population growth. This is showing up in a rising unemployment rate, which is not particularly low anymore.

The May employment data suggests the job market is back on trend, with all gains in part-time jobs in one province (Ontario) and the unemployment rate ticking up to 6.2%, as expected.

A lower proportion of unemployed people transitioning into employment may indicate that people are facing greater difficulties finding work in the current labour market. More Canadians are also finding themselves working part-time because they don't have better options. The involuntary part-time rate, which refers to the proportion of part-time workers who could not find full-time work or worked part-time because of weak business conditions, was 18.2% in May, up from 15.4% a year prior.

In the U.S., employers added 272,000 jobs in May, accelerating from April and indicating that companies are still confident enough in the economy to keep hiring despite persistently high interest rates.