Canada's unemployment rate in May jumped to its highest level in almost nine years outside of the pandemic era with 1.6 million jobless people in the country amid a constrained labor market, data showed on Friday.

Some economists say Canada's labour market is weakening but not collapsing as Statistics Canada reports job growth has stalled since the start of the year.

The Montreal region’s unemployment rate declined slightly in May, despite a rise in the number of people looking for work across Canada, the federal statistics agency said Friday. Unemployment in the Montreal census metropolitan area declined from 7.

U.S. job growth slowed in May, while the unemployment rate held steady, potentially giving the Federal Reserve a buffer to delay the resumption of interest rate cuts.

Although many Americans, particularly younger workers, are finding it more challenging to find jobs, the unemployment remained unchanged at 4.2% last month. Economists expected the U.S. unemployment rate to hold steady at 4.

A jobs report to be released on Friday will show whether the resilient labor market continued to defy business uncertainty and recession concerns stoked by President Donald Trump's tariffs. The fresh data,