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The jobs numbers are “consistent with a gradual rate hike path and really not a whole lot of urgency,” said Robert Kavcic, a senior economist at BMO Capital Markets.

The Canadian dollar slipped after the jobs report, down as much as 0.3 per cent to 75.8 US cents. The currency rose as much as 0.4 per cent Thursday after Bank of Canada Senior Deputy Governor Carolyn Wilkins said the central bank’s top officials debated this week whether to accelerate the pace of potential interest rate hikes, before finally choosing to stick to their current “gradual” path.

The Bank of Canada has raised interest rates four times since mid-2017 to keep inflation from moving permanently beyond its 2 per cent target, and indicated it will need to make additional hikes to keep price gains from accelerating because the economy is roughly at capacity.

So far in 2018, the economy has shed 14,600 jobs, but the number masks a 97,300 gain in full-time jobs. Part-time employment is down by 111,900 this year.

The net loss in August — which was the second largest monthly decline since the last recession — drove the unemployment rate to 6 per cent, from 5.8 per cent a month earlier, while wage gains decelerated to their slowest this year. However, the jobless rate still remains near four-decade lows.

Economists had expected a gain of 5,000 jobs and an unemployment rate of 5.9 per cent, according to the median estimate in a Bloomberg survey.

Other highlights:

• Wage gains for all workers slowed in August, with average hourly pay up 2.9 per cent from a year ago. That’s the slowest pace since December. Wage gains for permanent employees were down to 2.6 per cent, the slowest since October.

• Actual hours worked were up 1.6 per cent from a year ago, after an increase of 1.3 per cent in July, reflecting the increase in full-time workers.

• By industry, the decline was broad-based and included a loss of 16,400 jobs in construction and 22,100 in the professional services sector.

Bloomberg.com