08:00 AM EDT, 07/26/2024 (MT Newswires) -- Amid all the dovish commentary surrounding the latest Bank of Canada (BoC) rate cut, there's at least one fly in the ointment, said Bank of Montreal (BMO).

Wages remain quite sticky, even as the job market is softening rapidly in front of Canada's eyes, stated the bank.

The BoC at least gave a passing nod to still-fast wage growth, but downplayed concerns in light of sagging job vacancies.

The May payroll survey (SEPH) released on Thursday revealed that the fixedweight measure of hourly earnings popped to a 4.8% y/y clip. This is a particularly "bouncy" series, so BMO smoothed it over a three-month period. The upward trend is clear, with wage gains averaging 3.8% y/y in the latest three months.

That's not especially high and is only up a bit from the average rise of 3.6% in the past year, noted the bank.

Still, it's not the direction Canada's central bank would like to see if it's embarking on a series of cuts, added BMO.