Canadian Employment gains in January. - Forex & Currency Trading Blog

February 8, 2008 - Forex Economic News

Canadian Employment gains in January.

Economic news out of Canada was released today by Statistics Canada. Canadian employment increased by an estimated 46,000 workers in the month of January after showing a decrease of 19,000 in December. The strong employment numbers for January dropped the Canadian unemployment rate to 5.8 percent which ties October 2007 as showing the lowest unemployment rate in 33 years. January also posted a record high for its employment rate at 63.8 percent. Canadian employment gained 337,000 jobs and was up 2.0 percent overall for the year of 2007. Average hourly wages continued to climb in Canada as the annual rate in January was a 4.9 percent gain, the same as last month. Hourly wages have gained over a 4 percent annual rate in growth for six months in a row.

The Canadian dollar got a boost from the positive employment news and the USD/CAD pair is trading at 0.9973 in the early afternoon U.S. session.

On the topic of the Canadian Loonie, the National Post out of Canada has a story on Warren Buffett and his views on the Canadian currency and where its going. Buffett also notes his successful bet on the Loonie for "several hundred million dollars". Check out the article here.

Tags: Canadian Employment, Forex Rates, USD/CAD, Warren Buffett

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