According to the Labour Force Survey (LFS), Canadian employment surged 79,000 in December, which also represented the 13th consecutive monthly gain in new jobs. Employment rose in all provinces in December with Quebec (+27K) and Alberta (+26K) being the top performers.

The Canadian unemployment rate dropped two percentage points down to a record low of 5.7% in December, even though there also was a slight increase in the participation rate.

The 5.7% unemployment rate was the lowest in 40 years, which itself is quite a remarkable feature. The unemployment rate in Canada was on a downward trend last year, dropping 1.2 percentage points between December 2016 and December 2017. Canada’s underemployment rate which also includes discouraged workers also fell to a record low in December.

The employment increase in December was concentrated in part-time work, which rose by 55,000. The strong gain in employment in December builds on the jobs momentum observed in October and November. This boosted gains for the fourth quarter of 2017 to 193,000 or 1.0%, the most robust rate of quarterly job growth since the second quarter of 2010.

 In the 12 months to December 2017, employment rose by 423,000 (+2.3%), with nearly all the gains in full-time work (+394,000 or +2.7%).

 Over the same period, total hours worked grew 3.1%.