WHEN IS THE CANADIAN MONTHLY JOBS REPORT AND HOW COULD IT AFFECT USD/CAD?

Canadian employment details overview

Statistics Canada is scheduled to publish the monthly employment report for March later this Thursday at 12:30 GMT. The Canadian economy is anticipated to have added 12K jobs during the reported month, down from February's reading of 21.8K. Moreover, the unemployment rate is anticipated to edge higher to 5.1% from 5.0% in the previous month.

Analysts at Citi Bank offer a brief preview of the key macro data and explain: “After a few months of very strong employment gains, we expect a modest 10K drop in employment in the labor force survey in March, although with risks tilted to the upside due to strong population growth from immigration. An eventual contraction in activity later this year alongside slowing in the US which should result in job losses, but even in this scenario, the rise in unemployment could be relatively muted. Expectation for modest job loss in March would imply an increase in the unemployment rate to a still-low 5.2%.”