Disappointing Canadian job numbers

The Canadian economy lost nearly 55,000 jobs last month, raising the unemployment rate to 7.2%.

Statistics Canada says the jobless rate rose two-tenths of a point in March, putting Canadian job creation in the negative territory for the first three months of the year. More than 85,000 workers in the private sector became unemployed. However, 39,000 Canadians became self-employed last month, likely because they couldn’t find permanent work. In the U.S., the jobless rate fell to 7.6%, as more people dropped out of the workforce. The economy added 88,000 jobs. But that was far fewer than the 200,000 predicted by economists. The markets in Toronto and New York reacted accordingly.