OTTAWA, July 7 Reuters Canada39;s economy added far more jobs than expected in June, data showed on Friday, a result analysts said probably seals the deal for another Bank of Canada BoC interest rate hike next week.

Jobs increased by a net 59,900 in June, the most since January and higher than a forecast gain of 20,000, while the jobless rate rose to 5.4 from 5.2 as more people searched for work, Statistics Canada data showed on Friday.

The unemployment rate in June increased for the second consecutive month and is now at its highest level since February 2022, though still below a prepandemic 12month average, Statscan said.

The June jobs report is the last major economic figure to be released before the BoC39;s rate announcement on Wednesday.

The jobs figures are good enough to give the green light for the bank to hike next week, said Derek Holt, vice president of capital markets economics at Scotiabank. We still have a jobs market that is holding on quite nicely.

The central bank raised its overnight rate to a 22year high of 4.75 last month on concerns about sticky inflation and said that further moves would be dependent on the latest economic figures.

Data in the past month have shown some signs of a slowdown inflation cooling to 3.4, a tepid May jobs report and a surprise trade deficit in May but not enough to diminish market expectations of another rate hike.

Growth has remained resilient despite nine rate increases totaling 450 basis points since March of…