London’s unemployment rate fell to as low as 5.9% in June before climbing back up to 6.3% in July.

This growth level is roughly half the pace of the gains we saw earlier in the recovery, but the rate of employment increases is still decent enough to be consistent with a moderate pace of overall economic growth. The gradual improvement in the number of people suffering long-term unemployment benefits residential real estate somewhat, since workers out of the workforce for a long time aren’t forming households at either for-sale properties or (more likely) rental properties.

The August jobs report from the USA government’s Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) came short of estimates, with “headline” job gains of 173K for the month vs. estimates of 220K and the prior month’s tally of 245K (which was revised higher: 245K vs. 231K originally). The new jobs – a 0.2 per cent gain from July, and 1.8 per cent more than August 2014 – represented an increase in full-time employment in the province.

The number of public sector employees was also up in August, while self-employment edged down and the private sector was neutral. That surpassed economists’ expectations for a decline of 4,500 jobs.

But the youth unemployment rate was virtually unchanged, and Nova Scotia Liberal candidate Scott Brison said the overall jobs picture has been blurred under the Conservatives.

Economists agree that the solid report gives the Federal Reserve the green light to raise interest rates at its next meeting in September, despite the recent stock market volatility and financial crisis in China. Manitoba added 2,700 and New Brunswick increased by 2,400.

Meanwhile, north of the border, based on the latest data from Statistics Canada, it’s becoming harder to put a good face on the national labour market statistics. The health sector now accounts for 12.8 per cent of all jobs compared to 10.6 per cent just before the Conservatives assumed power.

In other words, there has been no improvement in the jobless measure in Canada over the past year, while in the U.S.it has dropped by a full percentage point, as August last year was 6.1%.

The total number of actual hours worked jumped 0.8 percent in August from the month before, the most since November 2010.