Canada added a massive 337k jobs in February, well above expectation of 123k. Full time jobs grew 122k while parti time jobs rose 215k. Goods-producing jobs rose 44k and producing jobs rose 293k.
Unemployment rate dropped sharply from 6.5% to 5.5%, better than expectation of 6.2%. The level was now below pre-pandemic rate at 5.7% in February 2020, and similar to record lower of 5.4% back in May 2019.
Total hours worked also rose 3.6%, exceeding pre-pandemic level for the first time. Employment rate rose 1% to 61.8%. Labor force participation rate rose 0.4% to 65.4%.
