Canada adds 22,800 jobs in December, unemployment holds at 7.1 per cent

OTTAWA – Canada’s national unemployment rate stayed the same at 7.1 per cent, but the economy created a much better than expected 22-thousand, 800 net jobs in December.

Economists were expecting a gain of 10-thousand positions.

The December increase follows a drop of 35,700 jobs in November, a decline largely caused by the previous month’s rise in temporary work likely generated by the federal election.

The report released Friday also contained a year-end review that said national employment rose by 0.9 per cent in 2015 as the labour force bulked up by 158,000 net jobs.

The 2015 employment growth rate was slightly stronger than in 2014 and 2013, when the overall number of jobs expanded by just 0.7 per cent in each of those years.

For all of last year, Statistics Canada reports national employment rose 0.9 per cent as the economy generated 158-thousand net jobs.

Nova Scotia lost three-thousand jobs last month but the unemployment rate was unchanged at 8.6 per cent as fewer people in the province were looking for work.

The rate edged up in New Brunswick to 8.9 per cent while P-E-I was the only province in the region to see a drop as its unemployment rate fell to 9.7 per cent from 10.4 per cent in November.

Newfoundland and Labrador’s unemployment rate jumped last month to its highest level in five years.

Statistics Canada says the province lost 27-hundred jobs in December as the jobless rate increased 1.4 percentage points to 14.4 per cent.

 

Here’s what happened provincially (previous month in brackets):

 

— Newfoundland and Labrador 14.4 per cent (13.0)

— Prince Edward Island 9.7 (10.4)

— Nova Scotia 8.6 (8.6)

— New Brunswick 8.9 (8.7)

— Quebec 7.8 (7.5)

— Ontario 6.7 (6.9)

— Manitoba 5.9 (6.1)

— Saskatchewan 5.5 (5.5)

— Alberta 7.0 (7.0)

— British Columbia 6.7 (6.2)