Canada: Following two months of notable increases, employment was little changed in July

"Following two months of notable increases, employment was little changed in July (+11,000 or +0.1%). As the number of people searching for work edged down, the unemployment rate declined by 0.2 percentage points to 6.3%," the Statistics Canada said on Friday.

Key highlights:

• This is the lowest rate since October 2008, just prior to the onset of the 2008-2009 labour market downturn
• In the 12 months to July, employment rose by 388,000 (+2.1%), mostly the result of increases in full-time work (+354,000 or +2.4%). Over this period, the number of hours worked increased by 1.9%
• In July, employment in wholesale and retail trade increased by 22,000 (+0.8%)
• The number of people working in manufacturing rose by 14,000 in July, the third notable gain in five months