Canada Finally Adds Wage Gains to Stellar Jobs Performance

  • Annual wage rate increases accelerated to 1.3 percent in May
  • Gain in manufacturing jobs at 25,300 is the most since 2002

A worker welds a propeller core at a facility in North Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.

Photographer: Abigail Saxton/Bloomberg
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Canada’s labor market continued surprising in May, with a greater-than-expected 54,500 jobs gain that also finally came with signs of a pick-up in wages.

The employment gain -- the third biggest one-month increase in the past five years -- was driven by the addition of 77,000 new full-time jobs, which offset falling part-time employment. Economists had forecast a 15,000 increase in employment.