Employers take break from hiring as unemployment rate remains unchanged at 7.1%

OTTAWA – Statistics Canada says the official unemployment rate remained unchanged at 7.1 per cent last month as employers pulled back after a wild month of hiring in May.

The agency says the economy shed a mere 400 jobs in June, a statistically insignificant number.

But that was better than the 12,500 jobs economists had expected would be lost in the hangover from the hiring binge seen in May, when 95,000 new jobs were added.

However, the details were worse than the headline numbers suggested, as full-time employment fell by 32,4000 while part-time work rose by an almost equal amount.

The agency says that for the first six months of 2013, employment has risen by an average of about 14,000 a month, half the pace seen in the last half of 2012.

Regionally, gains and losses were evenly split among the provinces, with no major ups or downs in hiring.