Canada jobs report beats expectations [Video]

Canada’s unemployment rate ticked down in January as the labour market added 76,000 jobs, beating economist expectations for the month.

The jobless rate ticked down 0.1 percentage points to 6.6 per cent, marking the second straight monthly decline after peaking at 6.9 per cent in November, Statistics Canada reported on Friday.

Economists polled by Reuters had expected about a third of that job growth, and for the unemployment rate to rise slightly.

“Overall, this is clearly a very positive report once again,” said Andrew Grantham, senior economist at CIBC Capital Markets, in a note to clients.

“However, even after the improvement seen during the past two months, the unemployment rate is still only just back to where it stood in October, and is still consistent with a labour market with plenty of slack.”

The manufacturing sector carried the largest employment gains, adding …