The Canadian economy unexpectedly shed 1,500 jobs in March, data indicted Friday, as a big drop in part-time work and weakness in public sector payrolls offset a staggering 91,000 gain in full-time jobs.

The unemployment rate dipped to 7.7% in the month, as the number of people dropping out of the workforce surpassed March’s job loss.

The 1,500 drop was a surprise as the consensus on Bay Street was for a 28,000 gain.

However, a number of analysts say the headline number masked strong underlying trends.

“The report was a mixed bag though on balance indicated a shift toward more full-time employment, a component that was missing from the recovery in the labour market to date,” said Dawn Desjardins, assistant chief economist at Royal Bank of Canada.

Meanwhile, Douglas Porter, deputy chief economist at BMO Capital Markets, acknowledged the March jobs data were “no ball of fire.” Nevertheless, “the big increase in full-time jobs, the rise in hours worked, a small uptick in average wages, and the dip in the jobless rate are all consistent with underlying improvement in the labour market.”

The report is not expected to influence the Bank of Canada’s pending rate decision on Tuesday, as the market fully expects the central bank to keep its benchmark rate of 1% as is.

While the Canadian dollar lost some ground after the 7 a.m. ET release of the jobs data, it regained momentum, perhaps after traders looked at the underlying data. As of 8:30 am ET the loonie was trading in the US$1.048 range.

Overall, the economy added 90,600 full-time jobs in March, the best showing in 18 months. However, that was more than offset by the 92,100 people who lost part-time jobs.

With the March data, the percentage gains in full-time employment over the last 12 months -- of 1.8% or 251,00 -- has surpassed growth in part-time work, of 1.7% or 54,000.

“This shows that the Canadian job market experienced a job rotation in March from part-time to full-time,” said Yanick Desnoyers, assistant chief economist at National Bank Financial.

As a consequence of the gain in full-time jobs, hours worked rebounded in March by rising 0.5% month-over-month after being down in two of the last three months, while the average hourly wage increased 0.4% on a seasonally adjusted basis.

Employment was down 27,200 in the public sector, up 8,300 in the private sector and 17,400 more people were self-employed in March. The weakness in the public sector may be a sign of things to come, as governments across the country look to cut spending in order to reverse deficits recorded during the recession.

Some of the industries that recorded employment declines in March included health care and social assistance, and the trade sector. Gains were seen in the hospitality sector and construction. All told, the goods-producing sector added 19,100 jobs while the services sides of the economy cut 20,500 from their payrolls.

Article provided via Financial Post

http://www.financialpost.com/news/Canada+lost+jobs+March/4581672/story.html

" U.S. scrambles to halt shutdown "..

" for us to go backward because Washington couldn't get it's act together is just unacceptable " ...

Uncomfortably close to a deadline, President Barack Obama and top congressional leaders have only hours to avert a Friday midnight government shutdown that all sides say would inconvenience millions of people and damage a still fragile economy.

Mr. Obama said he still hoped to announce an agreement on Friday but did not have “wild optimism.”

In revealing nothing about what still divides them, Mr. Obama and the lawmakers, House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., all said another late night of talks in the Oval Office had narrowed their differences over cutting federal spending and other matters.

But Mr. Obama said ominously that the machinery of a shutdown was already in motion.

“I expect an answer in the morning,” Mr. Obama told reporters Thursday evening as representatives from the White House and Capitol Hill plunged ahead with negotiations into the night.

The aides were trying to cobble together a deal on how much federal spending to slash, where to cut it and what caveats to attach as part of a bill to fund the government through Sept. 30. A temporary federal spending measure expires at midnight Friday.

As the pressure mounted, Obama abruptly postponed plans to promote his agenda in Indiana on Friday.

For a nation eager to trim to federal spending but also weary of Washington bickering, the spending showdown had real implications.

A closing would mean the furloughs of hundreds of thousands of workers and the services they provide, from processing many tax refunds to approving business loans. Medical research would be disrupted, national parks would close and most travel visa and passport services would stop, among many others.

Obama spoke after a double-barrelled day of meetings with Boehner and Reid. The three have held four such meetings this week.

Throughout Thursday, the president, Mr. Reid and Mr. Boehner bargained and blustered by turns, struggling to settle their differences while manoeuvring to avoid any political blame if they failed.

With the economy just now beginning to create jobs in large numbers, the president said a shutdown would damage the recovery.

“For us to go backward because Washington couldn't get its act together is just unacceptable,” he said.

But agreement remained elusive.

Republicans passed legislation through the House at midday to fund the Pentagon for six months, cut $12-billion in domestic spending and keep the federal bureaucracy humming for an additional week.

“There is absolutely no policy reason for the Senate to not follow the House in taking these responsible steps to support our troops and to keep our government open,” Mr. Boehner said.

Mr. Obama flashed a veto threat even before the bill passed on a 247-181, mostly party-line vote. The administration issued a statement calling it “a distraction from the real work” of agreeing on legislation to cover the six months left in the current fiscal year, and there was no indication Mr. Reid would allow a vote on it.

As they left the White House after the evening meeting, Reid and Boehner issued a brief written statement that said they had narrowed their disagreements and said they would “continue to work through the night to attempt to resolve” the remaining ones.

Republicans want deeper spending cuts than the Democrats favour and also are pressing for provisions to cut off federal funds to Planned Parenthood and stop the Environmental Protection Agency from issuing numerous anti-pollution regulations.

“They're difficult issues. They're important to both sides and so I'm not yet prepared to express wild optimism,” the president said.

For all the brinksmanship – and the promise of more in the Senate on Friday – there was agreement that a shutdown posed risks to an economy still recovering from the worst recession in decades.

Article provided via The Globe and Mail

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/economy/us-scrambles-to-halt-shutdown/article1976125/

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