07:47 AM EST, 02/07/2025 (MT Newswires) -- Canada will publish the Labour Force Survey (LFS) for January at 8:30 a.m. ET Friday, noted Bank of Montreal (BMO).

The bank said that while its expectation is for a "decent" 25,000 increase in employment in January after a 91,000 surge in December, that might not be enough to keep the jobless rate from moving up a notch to 6.8% after dipping two-tenths in December.

However, the pace of population growth has already rolled over thanks to the LFS revisions and is now more in line with the quarterly figures. That suggests labor force growth will slow through 2025 as well, which will limit the rise in the jobless rate if employment gains can hold up, pointed out BMO. Hours worked look to perk up as the postal strike impact reverses -- it ended soon after the December survey week.

Lastly, wage growth likely maintains a 4%-handle after slowing rapidly over the past two months, added the bank.

The US dollar (USD) is slightly firmer (BBDXY +0.07%), while the Canadian dollar (CAD or loonie) is softer (CAD per USD +0.16%) on Friday, according to BMO.