Canadian job growth bounced back in August as employment expanded by 34,300. Just as last month's over 30,000 job losses were entirely due to part-time employment, this month's gains were the result of those jobs being added back.  Part-time employment grew by 46,700 while, full-time employment fell 12,500. The Canadian unemployment rate held steady at 7.3 per cent

BC employment followed the national trend, adding 14,900 new jobs in August. However, job growth was entirely based in part-time employment while full-time employment fell by 3,700. The provincial unemployment rate dipped 0.3 points to 6.7 per cent.  The level of employment in BC is 2.3 per cent higher than August 2011, well above the national growth rate of just 1 per cent.

Anemic job growth continues in the United States. Today's non-farm payrolls report showed that August saw just 96,000 new jobs added to the economy, a significant short-fall from market expectations of 125,000. The US unemployment rate ticked lower to 8.1 per cent though as more discouraged workers left the labour force.

Copyright British Columbia Real Estate Association. Reprinted with permission.