Canada’s Job Gains Outpace U.S. Losses as Summer Recession Fades

At the start of summer, Canada was technically in a recession, defined by two consecutive quarters of falling GDP. New data, however, paints a more upbeat picture: July saw the creation of roughly 75,000 jobs, pulling the national unemployment rate down to 6.4%, the lowest in two years. The growth came mainly from the private sector and self-employed workers, while public-sector jobs actually declined.

On the same morning, U.S. authorities reported a loss of about 23,000 jobs for July and revised earlier gains for April and May downward, with the unemployment rate slipping to 4.1% largely because many Americans exited the labour force. The contrasting outcomes gave a brief rhetorical win to Canada, prompting Donald Trump to label Canadian leadership as “nasty” during a Las Vegas address where he defended his tariff policies.