Canada's Unemployment Rate Drops to Lowest in Four Decades

Economy adds record number of jobs in final 3 months of year
Implied odds of a January rate increase jump to 70 percent

A student practices welding techniques at the vocational training centre in Montmagny, Quebec, Canada, on Tuesday, Oct. 31, 2017. In this region alongside the St. Lawrence River there aren't enough local workers interested in blue-collar jobs. With a jobless rate of 6 percent, the province has little choice but to turn to immigrants as its population ages more rapidly than the U.S., the U.K. and the rest of Canada.Photographer: Christinne Muschi/Bloomberg

Provide news feedback or report an error

Confidential tip?

Send a tip to our reporters

Site feedback:

Take our Survey

By Theophilos Argitis

January 5, 2018 at 1:30 PM UTC

Updated on

January 5, 2018 at 2:33 PM UTC

This article is for subscribers only.

Canada’s unemployment rate plunged to the lowest in more than 40 years, suddenly raising the odds of a Bank of Canada rate hike this month.

The jobless rate fell to 5.7 percent in December, Statistics Canada said Friday in Ottawa, the lowest in the current data series that begins in 1976. The number of jobs rose by 78,600, beating expectations and bringing the full-year employment gain to 422,500. That’s the best annual increase since 2002.