Jobs growth doubles forecasts Globe and Mail Update July 6, 2007 at 7:57 AM EDT Canadian employers created 34,800 jobs last month, double forecasts, making an interest-rate hike next week more likely. Last month's growth stemmed from full-time positions, with the retail, building and education sectors adding to payrolls, Statistics Canada said Friday. The jobless rate held steady at a 33-year low of 6.1 per cent for the fifth month as more people looked for work. The job engine revved back to life last month following two months of flat growth. Smoothing out the bumps, average monthly job creation this year is running ahead of 2006, which was a solid year for the labour market. That could mean a pickup in wage growth and increasing price pressure - making an interest-rate hike on Tuesday more probable. "Canada's tight jobs market will keep the upside risk to the inflation outlook intact and provides another reason for policy makers to raise the overnight rate to 4.5 per cent next week," said Dawn Desjardins, senior economist at Royal Bank of Canada. She expects the Bank of Canada's overnight lending rate will rise to 5 per cent by year's end from 4.25 per cent currently. June's rise in employment brings gains for the first half of the year to about 197,000 or 1.2 per cent - similar to last year's growth. Most of the new positions were full time, and adult women were especially likely to find work. "Adult women accounted for most of June's increase in full-time and all of the decline in part-time employment," the report said. Results were mixed among the provinces. More people were working in Quebec, Alberta and New Brunswick last month and less in Saskatchewan and Nova Scotia. In the first half of the year, the provinces with employment growth above the national average were New Brunswick, Alberta, British Columbia, Quebec and Manitoba. Employment declines this year have occurred in Newfoundland and Labrador as well as Saskatchewan. Ontario, which accounts for almost 40 per cent of total employment in Canada, has registered growth of just 0.4 per cent over the past six months. Economists polled by Bloomberg News had expected 17,000 jobs would be created with the employment rates unchanged at 6.1 per cent. ==============================
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