OTTAWA – The Canadian labour force beat expectations last month by gaining a healthy 67,200 net new jobs, with most of the increase concentrated in part-time and self-employed work.
Despite the surge, Statistics Canada’s latest jobs survey says the national unemployment rate didn’t budge from seven per cent for the second straight month as more people entered the workforce.
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The report says 44,100 of the added jobs were considered part-time work, while 50,100 were self-employed positions – some of which may have been unpaid.
The agency says the more-desirable categories of full-time work saw a boost of 23,000 jobs, while paid employee positions rose 17,000 last month.
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A consensus of economists had projected the country to add 10,000 positions and for the jobless rate to stay at seven per cent, according to Thomson Reuters.
Compared to a year earlier, Canada had 138,800 more jobs last month for an increase or 0.8 per cent – 88,500 of those new positions were part-time.