Canada: Unemployment Rate falls to 12.3% in June vs. 12% expected

• Net Change in Employment in Canada rose more than expected.
• USD/CAD pair continues to post small daily gains near 1.3600.

Net Change in Employment in Canada rose by 953,000 in June and brought the Unemployment Rate down to 12.3% from 13.7% in May, Statistics Canada reported on Friday. 

Despite a bigger-than-expected Net Change in Employment, the Unemployment Rate came in worse than analysts' estimate of 12%. 

Market reaction

The USD/CAD pair largely ignored this data and was last seen trading near 1.3600, gaining 0.12% on a daily basis.

Additional takeaways

"Approximately 2.5 million Canadians were unemployed in June, a decrease of 167,000 (-6.4%) from May but more than double the February level (1.1 million)."

"In June, as COVID-19-related restrictions eased, the number of people participating in the labour force rose by 786,000 (+4.1%)."

"With the easing of COVID-19 restrictions in May and June, the initial recovery of employment—to within 9.2% of pre-COVID levels—has been sharper than in previous downturns, when recovery to pre-downturn employment has taken from two to five years."