Canada: Unemployment rate declined 0.2% points to 6.5%, lowest rate since October 2008

Employment was little changed in April, while the unemployment rate declined 0.2 percentage points to 6.5%, the lowest rate since October 2008, reported the Statistics Canada on Friday.

Key quotes:

• The decrease was mostly the result of fewer youth searching for work
• Compared with 12 months earlier, there were 276,000 (+1.5%) more people employed and the unemployment rate was 0.6 percentage points lower. Over the same period, the total number of hours worked rose 1.1%.
• Employment in business, building and other support services fell by 19,000 in April
• Public sector employment increased by 35,000 in April, largely in health care and social assistance and educational services