Fiscal Study

Housing starts were up for January to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 222,700 units, compared to 184,700 units in December, according to Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation figures, CBC News reports:

A seasonally adjusted annual rate measures monthly figures adjusted to remove normal seasonal variation and multiplied by 12 to reflect annual levels.
"Historically low mortgage rates, solid employment and income growth as well as a high level of consumer confidence continue to underpin the high level of housing starts," chief economist Bob Dugan said in a news release.

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Posted by fiscalstudy at 10:17 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The federal finance department is ratcheting down its working assumption about Canada's growth prospects for this year, CBC News reports:

Ottawa is now expecting real GDP growth of two per cent to 2.2 per cent, finance department staffers told reporters Thursday. The previous estimate — from the Oct. 30 economic statement — called for 2008 growth of 2.4 per cent.

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Posted by fiscalstudy at 1:39 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The Canadian economy added 11,300 jobs in July — enough to drop the country's unemployment rate to a 33-year low of 6.0 per cent, The Economist reports:

The net job creation numbers came in below the 20,000 figure some analysts had been expecting.
The biggest employment increase came in professional, scientific and technical services, where 25,200 jobs were added. Trade, transportation and warehousing also saw job growth.

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Posted by fiscalstudy at 4:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)