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The unemployment rate declined 0.1 percentage point and this was the third decline in four months and left the rate just above the record low of 4.9 percent reached in June and July, Statistics Canada said.
Canada's employment rose by 104,000 in December and the unemployment rate declined to 5 percent, Statistics Canada said Friday.
The number of employees increased in the private sector, while it held steady in the public sector. There were broad-based employment gains across several industries, including construction, as well as transportation and warehousing, the national statistical agency said.
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The unemployment rate declined 0.1 percentage point and this was the third decline in four months and left the rate just above the record low of 4.9 percent reached in June and July, the agency said.
According to the agency, year-over-year growth in the average hourly wages of employees remained above 5 percent for a seventh consecutive month in December, up 5.1 percent to 32.06 Canadian dollars (25.64 U.S. dollars). Total hours worked were little changed on a monthly basis in December, and up 1.4 percent compared with a year earlier.
In the context of elevated cases of influenza and other respiratory viruses, 8.1 percent of employees were absent in December due to illness or disability, up from 6.8 percent in November. This was higher than the pre-pandemic average of 6.9 percent recorded in the month of December from 2017 to 2019, but below the record high of 10 percent set in January 2022, when the Omicron variant of COVID-19 was spreading across the country, Statistics Canada said.
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