Jobs, Jobs, Jobs

This morning saw the release of the February jobs report on both sides of the border. The US Economy added 290,000 jobs in the month of February, with the unemployment rate ticking up to 3.90%. This was above the consensus of 190,000 jobs. Expectations were for a slowing jobs market in Canada with RBC predicting the economy added 10,000 jobs, while the unemployment rate would tick up to 5.90%

However, the Canadian report blew the doors off, with employment picking up by 41,000 positions. The big number was that a lot of the jobs lost were part time jobs, replaced with more full time jobs. This was a fantastic employment report. Private sectors employers hired, so it wasn’t all government jobs being created. Hours worked were basically flat year over year, but average wages trucked in an impressive 5.0% growth year over year.

Even I can’t really find anything to pick apart in the report, other that the fact that population outgrew the numbers of jobs created by a slim margin. This report was probably the most positive report I have seen in years from Canada.

Now, if you were in the camp on needing interest rates to go down, then this report was not for you. With this kind of job creation, the wage increases year over year, and the private sector hiring, the BOC rate cuts will be pushed back another 30 to 45 days at minimum. Everything in this report was inflationary, and it proves that Tiff was warranted in his comments made on Wednesday. Whether you like Tiff or not, he was very straightforward on Wednesday saying that they were not going to cut prematurely, and risk re ignighting the housing bubble. Employment reports liek today show that there was merit to his comments.

I can’t wait to see all the Tik Tok videos from realtors and brokers over the weekend after todays report. I am sure the ” buy now” crowd will be out in full force this weekend.