Ottawa, March 12 Canada's unemployment rate fell to 5.5 per cent in February 2022, lower than 5.7 per cent in February 2020 and similar to the record low of 5.4 per cent observed in May 2019 before the Covid-19 pandemic, officials said.
The unemployment rate fell in all major demographic groups in February and for the first time since the beginning of the pandemic, men and women in all major age groups had an unemployment rate at, or below, what it was before the pandemic in February 2020, Xinhua news agency quoted Statistics Canada as saying.
Statistics Canada said employment climbed 337,000, or 1.8 per cent, in February, more than offsetting losses that coincided with stricter public health measures in January.
February employment growth was driven by strong gains in the number of private sector employees, which rebounded after dropping in January, it added.
"Even though the central bank gets to see another jobs report before its next meeting, there is more than enough justification from today's data for another hike in April," CIBC economist Andrew Grantham said in a statement.
He expected a series of four straight interest rate hikes, including the one already delivered, before a pause as the central bank assesses the impact of those on the economy.
The Bank of Canada raised its benchmark interest rate by a quarter of a percentage point to 0.5 per cent on March 2.
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