TORONTO - The Canadian dollar was slightly lower Friday, as Statistics Canada reported that the country's unemployment rate stayed unchanged in August, while 11,000 jobs were lost last month.
The loonie dipped 0.05 of a cent to 91.91 cents US.
The federal agency said the unemployment rate remained at seven per cent in August.
There were 81,000 jobs created in August, mostly in part-time work, compared with a year ago. There were also fewer youths between the ages of 15 to 25 working had jobs last month.
Avery Shenfeld, chief economist at CIBC, said that the figures confirmed that there's a "generally lacklustre trend" in job creation over the past year.
"All told, soft numbers that will at least take a bit of a shine off what has been an improving picture for Canada," he wrote in a note.
Rahim Madhavji of Knightsbridge Foreign Exchange said the Canadian numbers give the Bank of Canada another reason to stay with its neutral stance and keep interest rates lower for a while longer.
The Bank of Canada has made it clear that inflation and the economy need to pickup before interest rates will be considered to move higher — this data doesn't help the Canadian dollar," Madhavji said in a note.
It was a similarly soft reading on job creation in the U.S.
The U.S. Labor Department reported that employers added just 142,000 jobs in August, ending a six-month streak of hiring above 200,000 and posting the smallest gain in eight months.
Economists had forecast that the American economy created about 220,000 jobs last month.
The department says the unemployment rate fell to 6.1 per cent from 6.2 per cent, but the rate dropped because fewer Americans were working or seeking jobs.
August's job gains were far below the average monthly increase of 212,000 in the past 12 months.
Wage gains also have been sluggish since the Great Recession ended in 2009, and consumers remain cautious with spending dipping in July, the first decline since January.
The U.S. Federal Reserve has been carefully watching the release of the monthly job numbers, as a sign to see if the economy is improving at a good pace and when it can start raising interest rates.
Meanwhile, in commodities, the October crude contract down 10 cents to US$94.33 a barrel. December gold bullion gained $1.70 to US$1,268.20 an ounce, and December copper dropped a penny to US$3.13 a pound.
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