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Canada Unemployment Rate holds steady at 5.5% in September vs. 5.6% expected

  • Canada Unemployment Rate holds steady at 5.5% in September. 
  • Employment increases by 63,800, above expectations of 20,000. 
  • USD/CAD remains hovering around 1.3720, modestly higher for the day.

The Unemployment Rate in Canada held steady at 5.5% in September, Statistics Canada reported on Friday, better than the market consensus of a modest increase to 5.6%. Employment rose by 63,800 following an increase of 39,900 in August, and above expectations of 20,000.

"Employment growth in September was concentrated in part-time work, which rose by 48,000 (+1.3%). Since the beginning of the year, growth in part-time work (+1.9%) has outpaced growth in full-time work (+1.0%)," informed Statistics Canada. 

Further details of the publication revealed that on a year-over-year basis, average hourly wages rose 5.0% in September, following an increase of 4.9% in August.

Market reaction

The USD/CAD rose after the release of employment reports in the US and Canada, and then pulled back toward 1.3730. While the Loonie outperformed after the data, it was offset by a stronger US Dollar on the back of US data. 

Author

Matías Salord

Matías started in financial markets in 2008, after graduating in Economics. He was trained in chart analysis and then became an educator. He also studied Journalism. He started writing analyses for specialized websites before joining FXStreet.

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