Canada: Looking for another 10,000 increase in employment for March – BMO CM

Benjamin Reitzes, Senior Economist at BMO Capital Markets, explains that while there’s a risk we could see some payback for the string of chunky increases, they’re going to stick with the trend and are looking for another 10,000 increase in Canadian employment numbers for March.

Key Quotes

“Despite continued scepticism, the Canadian economy has shown clear signs of improvement from almost all corners. That’s consistent with the solid job gains recorded over the past seven months. While there’s a risk we could see some payback for the string of chunky increases, we’re going to stick with the trend and are looking for another 10,000 increase in March.”

“The prior month saw 105k full-time jobs created, the biggest increase in about 11 years, though that followed a very weak period through much of 2016. The story was the opposite for part-time, which was exceptionally strong in 2016, before cratering in February. We’ll see what kind of volatility the March report serves up. Our call would keep the jobless rate steady at 6.6%, a post-recession low.”