The economy added 15,400 net new jobs last month and the unemployment rate edged down to 5.8 per cent — but the gains were due to a surge in part-time work that offset a heavy decline in full-time positions.
Statistics Canada’s latest labour force survey, released Friday, also found that the job gains in February were driven by an increase of 50,300 in public-sector jobs.
The country lost 39,300 full-time jobs and generated 54,700 part-time positions last month, the report said.
Looking back, the Canadian job market delivered a strong performance over a 12-month period by adding 282,500 positions for a 1.5-per-cent expansion.
All of that year-over-year growth came from full-time work.
While jobs were added in Canada as a whole, two of three local communities saw their unemployment rates edge upward.
Waterloo Region’s unemployment rose to 5.3 per cent from 5.1 per cent one month earlier, while Brantford’s hit its highest mark since last October at 5.1 per cent, up from 4.7 per cent in January.
In Guelph, unemployment fell for the third straight month, hitting 5.3 per cent.
via CTV News
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