In this issue
Canadian jobs report – decent start to the year:
• full-time employment rose 31.1k after a nice 40.5k pickup to round out 2010
• while the majority of the job gain was in the civil service, the private sector did post a decent 22.7k payroll expansion in January
• if there was a blemish it was that there was no growth in the workweek but what helped compensate for that was a 0.9% pickup in average hourly earnings
U.S. employment – snow job?
• bullish or bearish, there was something for everyone
• the headline nonfarm payroll report came in light at +36k
• the Household survey also showed a more modest 117k jobs being created last month
• there is no doubt that the weather exerted a major impact