Canada January Job Losses Biggest on Record

(Reuters – Louise Egan)

Canada suffered its worst job losses in over three decades in January as the recession forced employers to cut a record 129,000 workers and pushed the unemployment rate to 7.2% from 6.6% in December. The report by Statistics Canada showed the biggest monthly downturn in employment since the federal agency began using its current methodology in 1976. It also showed record job losses in the manufacturing sector.

“I can’t see one glimmer of hope in this report when we dig beneath the headlines,” said Derek Holt, economist at Scotia Capital. “The optimists are just taking body blows all over the place here,” he said.

The Canadian dollar fell immediately after the report to C$1.2506 to the U.S. dollar, or 79.96 U.S. cents, from C$1.2415, or 80.55 U.S. cents, earlier.

Read the complete article here. Summary statistics and a link to the data files are on the Statistics Canada website