While US tariffs will be the obvious culprit for the fall in employment in March, two-thirds of the decline was concentrated in the services sector, suggesting that other factors were at play. Nonetheless, the broad-based weakness in last month’s Labour Force Survey does not bode well for the outlook, especially with timely surveys showing firms’ hiring intentions falling sharply. This raises the chances of the Bank of Canada cutting interest rates again at this month’s meeting, despite the relatively positive news on tariffs earlier this week.
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