Canada Migration

U.S. employers cut another 63,000 jobs in February, the highest monthly toll since 2003, even while their Canadian counterparts continued to defy expectations by adding 43,300 net new bodies to the payroll. The Canadian tally was just under the remarkable 46,400 new jobs created in January and well above last year’s average of 31,000 a month, Statistics Canada said Friday.

Canada’s job market, like its still healthy housing market, is in sharp contrast to the economic deterioration in the U.S., Canada’s main export market, where the labour market is shrinking as that country’s housing market goes through its deepest post Second World War meltdown.

“Continued optimism from Canadian consumers is in stark contrast to results from south of the border indicating that consumer sentiment continues to deteriorate in the United States,” the Conference Board of Canada said in releasing the report showing that its index of consumer confidence edged up 1.2 points last month to 96.6. “The only regional decline occurred in Ontario, where the export-oriented manufacturing sector continues to adjust to the slowdown in the United States.”

Source: Globe and Mail Update