Canadian Labour Market Snapshot

The latest employment numbers from Stats Canada are in and the labour market in Canada seems to be holding steady over the summer months. Here are the highlights:

National unemployment rate: 7.2% in July, down 0.1 percent from June.

512,600 people receiving EI benefits in May, which is for the most part unchanged since April.

$894.61 is the average weekly earnings of non-farm employees in May. This is a 2.5% increase from May of 2011. For those who are interested, the national inflation rate over this same period was 1.3%.