Canada's unemployment rate drops to 5% in December, lower than the anticipated 5.2%

According to figures released by Statistics Canada on Friday, the unemployment rate dropped from 5.1% in November to 5% in December. This result was better than the 5.2% market forecast.

The Net Change in Employment, which was revealed in more detail in the publication, was +104K, far higher than the analysts' prediction of +8K.

According to Statistics Canada's report, "Year-over-year increase in the average hourly salaries of employees remained over 5% in December, up 5.1% (+$1.57 to $32.06) compared with December 2021." "Total hours worked increased 1.4% over the previous year while barely changing on a monthly basis in December."

After the Canadian jobs report, the market's reaction was a strong decrease in USD/CAD, which was last noted down 0.2% on the day at 1.3580.

NOTE: According to some survey of analysts, 8,000 more jobs would have been added in December and the unemployment rate would have increased to 5.2%. Figures for hourly wages are those of permanent workers.