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Canada's Payrolls Data Shows "No Hire, No Fire" Situation, Says BMO

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Canadian employment, as measured by the payroll survey (SEPH), was up just 0.1% from a year ago as of March, said Bank of Montreal (BMO).

There are some pockets of firmness: Finance, health care, resources. There are some pockets of deeper weakness: Manufacturing, real estate, trade.

More broadly, labor demand in Canada remains decidedly flat, with combined payrolls and job openings little changed from a year ago, and even little changed from three years

ago, stated BMO. Given that labor force growth has similarly flattened alongside tighter immigration caps, the jobless rate has held largely steady.

According to BMO, this just highlights the nature of the job market in Canada right now: Not a lot of hiring, not a lot of firing.

In this environment, firms will have to squeeze more productivity out of existing workforces, according to the bank.

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