TORONTO (AP) — The Canadian economy added 34,300 new jobs in August, topping expectations of only modest gains and reversing the previous month's setback, Statistics Canada reported Friday.
The reporting agency said all the gains were part-time jobs, which added 46,700 employees, while there were 12,500 fewer full-time workers. As well, there were heavy losses in the goods producing sector, which generally pays higher wages.
Analysts had expected the economy to add only about 10,000 jobs in August, reflecting the slow pace of growth and risk-filled nature of the global outlook.
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Meanwhile, the unemployment rate remained unchanged at 7.3 percent — where it has been for most of the past year— as the labor force grew in step with the employment gains.
Last week, the agency confirmed expectations that economic growth in Canada had slowed from the previous year with a modest advance of 1.8 percent annualized in the first half of 2012.
The August report was almost a direct mirror image of the disappointing July data, when Statistics Canada reported the economy had shed 30,400. Even more striking, almost all the losses in July came in Quebec and were part-time, whereas in August almost all the gains— 32,500 — were also located in the province and part-time.
March and April had shown a whopping 140,500 new jobs but then settled down in May and June to a more sustainable pace of more than 7,000 new jobs each month before July's surprise loss.
With the August gains, Statistics Canada said employment in Canada has increased by one percent, or by 177,000 jobs, over the past year, with most of the gains in full-time work.
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