The economy added 35,300 jobs in October, far above the consensus forecast of 15,000 net new jobs.
Although the unemployment rate crept higher, that was likely a sign of more Canadians looking for work, as the country’s labour market participation rate edged higher.
READ MORE: Canada’s unemployment rate drops to 6.3%, lowest since October 2008
Statistics Canada said the number of full-time positions swelled by 88,700, while part-time employment dropped by 53,400 jobs. The unemployment rate increased to 6.3 per cent, up from 6.2 per cent in September.
The “other services” category led the growth in jobs with a gain of 21,400 positions, while the construction industry gained 18,400. Information, culture and recreation industries added 15,300 jobs. Offsetting those gains, the wholesale and retail trade sector lost 35,900 positions.
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Compared with a year ago, employment was up by 308,100 jobs as the number of full-time jobs increased by 396,800 and the number of part-time positions fell by 88,700.
Regionally, Quebec posted the largest increase with a gain of 18,400 jobs, while Alberta added 11,900. Manitoba added 4,000 jobs and Newfoundland and Labrador rose by 3,400. Saskatchewan lost 4,000 jobs in October.
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Statistics Canada also released seasonally adjusted, three-month moving average unemployment rates for major cities. It cautions, however, that the figures may fluctuate widely because they are based on small statistical samples.
Here are the jobless rates last month by city (previous month in brackets):
– St. John’s, N.L. 8.8 per cent (8.9)
– Halifax 7.4 (7.2)
– Moncton, N.B. 5.8 (5.6)
– Saint John, N.B. 6.4 (5.7)
– Saguenay, Que. 6.2 (6.6)
– Quebec 4.5 (4.0)
– Sherbrooke, Que. 5.4 (5.0)
– Trois-Rivieres, Que. 5.6 (6.0)
– Montreal 6.7 (6.5)
– Gatineau, Que. 5.8 (6.0)
– Ottawa 5.8 (5.8)
– Kingston, Ont. 5.6 (5.5)
– Peterborough, Ont. 5.5 (7.1)
– Oshawa, Ont. 5.1 (4.9)
– Toronto 5.8 (6.1)
– Hamilton, Ont. 4.0 (4.2)
– St. Catharines-Niagara, Ont. 7.0 (6.3)
– Kitchener-Cambridge-Waterloo, Ont. 5.1 (4.5)
– Brantford, Ont. 5.3 (5.5)
– Guelph, Ont. 5.9 (5.8)
– London, Ont. 6.3 (5.5)
– Windsor, Ont. 6.9 (5.8)
– Barrie, Ont. 4.4 (6.0)
– Sudbury, Ont. 6.1 (6.0)
– Thunder Bay, Ont. 5.8 (5.0)
– Winnipeg 5.6 (5.5)
– Regina 5.4 (5.7)
– Saskatoon 7.6 (7.9)
– Calgary 8.3 (8.5)
– Edmonton 8.2 (8.5)
– Kelowna, B.C. 6.0 (5.4)
– Abbotsford, B.C. 5.2 (5.5)
– Vancouver 4.2 (4.5)
– Victoria 3.8 (4.5)
– With files from Erica Alini, Global News
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