Canada's job market loses steam as employment drops by over 41,000
TLT•Canada loses 41,700 jobs in August
OTTAWA, Sept. 4 (Reuters) - Canada's economy lost 41,700 jobs in August, data showed on Friday, slowing sharply from unusually strong summer hiring, while the unemployment rate held steady at 6.4%.
The August report provides one of the last relatively clean readings of Canada's labor market before the effects of U.S. President Donald Trump's new 50% tariffs begin to filter through the economy.
The duties cover a relatively small share of Canada's exports but are concentrated in vulnerable industries including wood products, raising the risk that the recent momentum in the labor market could grind to a crawl.
Analysts polled by Reuters had forecast job gains of around 15,000, as against a huge 75,100 job additions in July. The forecast for the unemployment rate was the same as reported.
The Canadian dollar CAD= was trading down 0.51% at C$1.3860 to the U.S. dollar, or 72.15 U.S. cents. Yields on the 2-year government bonds CA2YT=RR firmed after the labor data, trading 1.3 basis points up to 2.469%.
