Canadian economy gains 29,400 jobs in January, unemployment falls: StatsCan

OTTAWA – Statistics Canada says the Canadian economy gained 29,400 jobs in January and the unemployment rate fell 0.2 percentage points as the number of full-time jobs increased.

Canada’s national unemployment rate slid to 7.0 per cent for the first month of the year, compared with 7.2 per cent in December.

Statistics Canada says the gain was led by a rise in full-time work, including 15,000 more people employed in transportation and warehousing and an increase in self-employed workers.

The increase was offset by 25,000 fewer people working in business, building and other support services, as well as 16,000 fewer employees in public administration.

The labour force participation rate — the proportion of people either employed or underemployed and actively looking for work — was 66.3 per cent, compared with 66.4 per cent in December.

Meanwhile, the employment rate or proportion of the working age population actually working was 61.6 per cent, unchanged from a month earlier.