Canada’s job market showed surprising growth last month, according to Statistics Canada (StatCan). The agency’s latest Labour Force Survey (LFS) shows employment climbed sharply in October, marking a second consecutive month of growth. Employment was so strong that multiple jobholders surged, and seniors—who typically face hurdles to new employment—represented over 1 in 3 workers who found work last month. There’s definitely a problem here, but it certainly isn’t the weak labour market that policymakers are presenting—it’s more likely about the cost of living.
Canadian Job Growth Surges, Unemployment Drops
Canada’s job market is booming, according to the latest StatCan report. Seasonally adjusted employment grew 0.3% (+66.6k jobs) to 21.08 million in October, while unemployment fell 0.2 points (-49.2k people) last month. Making the read even more impressive was the fact 1 in 5 (19.8%) of unemployed workers in September found a job last month, reducing the risk of long-term churn.
Overall, a surprisingly good job report—though it did contain some interesting details.
Canada Sees Multiple Job Holders Surge To 1.15 Million
Canadian October Employment Change: Total Vs Multiple Jobholders (Thousands).
Source: StatCan LFS; Better Dwelling.
Canada saw a big uptick in workers with multiple jobs. Workers with multiple jobs climbed 2.8% (+31.2k workers) to 1.15 million in October, following the massive bump of 3.4% (+36.6k workers) in September. After peaking in February, this segment has generally been grinding lower—but the recent surge has sent it back to a four month high.
Multiple job holder data is made more interesting in the context of job creation. A worker is only counted in the employment data when they obtain their first job. Since additional jobs held by the same person aren’t counted in employment totals, in theory the economy created a staggering 97.2k jobs last month. That isn’t the narrative the Bank of Canada (BoC) has been embracing in recent months.
Canada’s Senior Surge: 1 In 3 Workers Added Were Over 55 Years Old
Canadian October Employment Change: Total Growth of Workers Vs Seniors (55-64 years old). In Thousands of Workers.
Source: StatCan LFS; Better Dwelling.
Canadians in their golden years represented a surprisingly large share of the job growth last month. Over 1 in 3 (36%) of the 66.6k jobs added to employment were workers between the ages of 55 and 64 years old. The demographic is only 15.3% of workers, but they were more than twice as likely to find a job than other workers in October.
Early senior workers (55-64 years old) also made an unusual appearance in the recent multiple jobholders data. These workers represented 1 in 6 (16%) of the 31.2k multiple job holders Canada added in October. Once again, these workers are overrepresented in the data, seeing their demographic grow roughly 40% faster than the total of all core-aged workers.
Last month’s job market data tells a very different story than the one policymakers and the BoC are telling. Policymakers are announcing substantial spending plans, while the BoC is dismissing inflation as transitory, seeing job losses reducing demand and thus killing inflation. However, the most recent data shows few problems with job creation—seniors are leading the trend, and the number of people who added multiple jobs indicates nearly 100,000 jobs added last month. That’s a stronger sign that affordability is an issue, exacerbated by inflation, than the ability to create jobs.