Derek Holt, VP at Scotiank Economics, urged clients on Friday to approach Statistics Canada’s latest reading on the country’s labour market with caution, calling some details in the report “very fishy.”
According to the agency, the Canadian economy unexpectedly lost 11,000 jobs in August from July, and the number of private-sector employees fell sharply.
The fall of 111,800 in the number of private-sector employees amounted to 1.0%, equaling the record month-on-month drop in April 1982. Overall, 97,800 employees lost their jobs, while the number of self-employed rose by 86,900.
“Guess what? We again advise clients to be very careful with the Canadian jobs numbers,” said Holt in a note that comes just two weeks or so after Statistics Canada issued an unprecedented and massive revision of its July jobs report.
“Apparently private payroll employees were just crushed last month via a drop of 97,800 and this was almost fully offset by a coincidental surge of 86,900 in the number of self-employed,” Holt continued. “That’s statistically possible I suppose but it looks very fishy to me.”
Chosen excerpts by Job Market Monitor. Read the whole story at Top economists say there’s something ‘very fishy’ about Statistics Canada’s August jobs report | Financial Post.
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