The gain was much greater than the 11,000 new positions forecast in a Reuters poll. Full-time jobs jumped by 89,900 on stronger private sector hiring while part-time positions edged up by 4,100.

The report will provide some relief for Bank of Canada Governor Stephen Poloz, who said on Thursday that economic data since October had been disappointing.

That said, the average year-over-year wage growth of permanent employees - a figure closely watched by the central bank - dropped for the sixth month in a row, falling to 1.5 percent, the lowest since the 1.2 percent seen in July 2017.

The 94,100 increase in the number of jobs created - a 0.5 percent month-on-month jump - is the largest on record, eclipsing 94,000 in March 2012.