Canada's unemployment rate has reached its highest level in three years at 6.8%, according to Statistics Canada.
Despite the addition of 51,000 jobs in November, the number of job seekers and those on temporary layoff has outpaced employment gains, resulting in a 0.3 percentage point increase in the unemployment rate.
Economists surveyed by Bloomberg had predicted a more modest job growth of 25,000 positions and an unemployment rate of 6.6%. This unexpected rise in unemployment is likely to strengthen the argument for the central bank to consider more aggressive rate cuts in response to the labor market dynamics.