The B.C. job market took a big hit last month, reversing nearly all the gains made in May and June.
The province shed 16,300 jobs in July, while unemployment ticked up 0.3 percentage points to land at 5.9 per cent, according to data released Friday from Statistics Canada.
Only Alberta (-16,800 jobs) lost more jobs than B.C. among all the provinces.
The nation as a whole lost 41,000 jobs and unemployment remained static at 6.9 percent, indicating more people were leaving the workforce altogether.
"We expect the stagnation in labour force growth to continue, which will keep the unemployment rate from rising too high, despite weak labour demand," TD senior economist Leslie Preston said in a note.
B.C. job losses were led by construction (-7,600 jobs) and education services (4,200 jobs). Gains were led by other services, excluding public administration (+5,200 jobs).
Meanwhile, the province lost 29,300 full-time positions while adding 13,000 part-time positions.
BMO chief economist Douglas Porter described the national report for July as “unambiguously weak” but with the caveat that the June report was “unambiguously strong.”
"Taken together, the overall picture is a soft economy," he said in a note, adding the results are not surprising in light of trade uncertainty.
Porter said the Bank of Canada will need to see more data showing inflation slowing “notably” before a September rate cut is likely.
Preston said there’s a strong argument to be made for a rate cut on Sept. 17.
“We’ll see if the BoC agrees,” he said in a note.
