OTTAWA, July 8, 2023 (BSS/AFP) - Canada's economy created 60,000 new jobs in June, government figures showed Friday, far more than expected by analysts who believe the growth should prompt the central bank to hike interest rates again next week.

After a brief reversal, the country's job market resumed its upward trend last month, recording its strongest growth since January.

Some 110,000 full-time jobs were created across the board, more than offsetting the 50,000 people who stopped working part-time, according to national agency Statistics Canada.

Despite this, the unemployment rate climbed from 5.2 percent to 5.4 percent, its highest level since February 2022, although it remains close to its historic low of five percent.

Desjardins Bank analyst Royce Mendes said the jobless tick upwards "was all due to another monthly surge in the size of Canada's working-age population."

He said he expects an increase in the labor force to "ease" some of the shortages reported by employers.

For analysts, the data opens the door to a further interest rate hike by the Bank of Canada.

"Economic growth data and 'sticky' core inflation readings since then haven't been soft enough to derail those plans," RBC analysts said in a note.

In early June the Bank of Canada raised its key rate by a quarter percentage point, to 4.75 percent, three months after becoming the first major central bank to pause its rate hikes.

The country's average hourly wage for employees rose by 4.2 percent year-on-year, reaching Can$33.12 (US$24.95) in June. Statistics Canada notes that marks "the slowest year-over-year growth in average hourly wages since May 2022."

Job growth was driven largely by the wholesale and retail sectors (33,000 jobs) as well as manufacturing (27,000 jobs).