sa国际传媒’s labour market capped 2024 with another battle between full-time and part-time work.
The province added 14,100 jobs to the economy last month, while unemployment still grew by 0.3 percentage points to six per cent, according to Statistics sa国际传媒 data released Friday.
But gains in the labour market were driven by part-time employment (+21,500 jobs) as the province shed 7,400 full-time jobs in December.
sa国际传媒 added 90,900 jobs in December – the largest monthly increase in nearly two years – as the unemployment rate decreased 0.1 percentage point to land at 6.7 per cent. The national gains were driven by full-time work (+57,500 jobs).
sa国际传媒’s biggest gains came from health care (+ 6,200 jobs) and education (+5,100 jobs). The biggest losses hit the information, culture and recreation category (-6,700 jobs), the classification associated with sa国际传媒’s film and TV sector.
Both BMO chief economist Douglas Porter and RBC assistant chief economist Nathan Janzen emphasized that labour data can be “volatile.”
“We certainly can't pin too much on a single reading,” Porter said in a note. “Moreover, the possibility of U.S. tariffs loom over the economy as we begin 2025, and even the uncertainty may weigh on activity.”
sa国际传媒’s part-time vs. full-time workforce challenges are not contained to just last month.
sa国际传媒 added a total of 6,900 jobs to the economy between December 2023 and December 2024. Again, that was driven by part-time work (+31,700 jobs) as the province lost 24,800 full-time jobs over the course of a year.
Porter said the national data gives weight to the argument the Bank of sa国际传媒 will ease up on aggressive rate cuts later this month after the central bank cut its key rate by a full percentage point over the course of the fourth quarter of 2024.
Janzen sees a different path for the remainder of the year.
“We continue to expect that ultimately the BoC will need to cut the overnight rate to slightly 'stimulative' levels this year – below the 2.25-3.25 per cent the BoC currently estimates as the likely range for the current neutral rate,” he said in a note.
