07:47 AM EST, 01/13/2025 (MT Newswires) -- Employment in Canada increased by a reported 91,000 in December, with the majority of this coming from older workers, said David Doyle, head of economics at Macquarie, following Friday's Labour Force Survey (LFS).

The unemployment rate fell to 6.7%, partially retracing the sharp rise in November. Hours worked were robust at 0.5% month-over-month higher, a development that should support real gross domestic product estimates for both Q20 24 and Q1 2025, noted Doyle.

The population growth assumption continued to moderate -- reaching 67,000 higher -- and should moderate further ahead given the immigration policy shift, according to Macquarie. The gap between the trend -- three-month moving average -- in employment growth and the breakeven level -- required to keep the employment rate constant -- was eliminated with this release.

However, this should be treated with some caution as it was entirely due to the 55-year-old & older age group.

Macquarie interprets these figures with some "caution." Given the timing, it's possible that seasonal adjustment challenges played a role in the outsized gain.

For the Bank of Canada ahead, Doyle continues to expect four successive cuts of 25 bps per meeting ahead, with the overnight rate reaching 2.25% in June 2025.