OTTAWA: Canada shed 88,000 jobs in January, following months of gains, pushing up the unemployment rate 0.1 percentage points to 5.9 percent, the government statistical agency said Friday.
The downturn across a number of industries comes after the previous month marked a drop in unemployment to the lowest level in decades, and was far deeper than the 9,000 lost jobs analysts had forecast.
According to Statistics Canada, a drop in part-time employment of 137,000 was partially offset by a gain of 49,000 full-time jobs.
Employment declined for women aged 25 to 54 years, as well as people 55 and older and youth aged 15 to 24.
The largest employment declines were in Ontario and Quebec. Job numbers in New Brunswick and Manitoba also fell.
Employment in educational services; finance, insurance, real estate, rental and leasing; professional, scientific and technical services; construction; and health care and social assistance fell.
But, employment increased in business, building, and other support services.
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