Ontario leads in job growth, increase only in part-time work

Statistics Canada says Ontario had the biggest job gains among the provinces and territories last month.

The federal agency says employment in the province increased by 25,400 in October.

That helped push the unemployment rate down to 6.4 per cent from 6.6 per cent in September.

But the gains all came in the part-time sector where the creation of 32,600 jobs offset the loss of 7,200 full-time positions.

• Canada adds 44,000 jobs in October

The Canadian economy added 44,000 new jobs in October, but the jobless rate stayed at seven per cent because more people were also looking for work.

Statistics Canada reported Friday that British Columbia recorded the second-largest increase in employment in the country, with 15,000 new jobs.

Most other provinces were largely unchanged.The number of jobs in Newfoundland and Labrador fell by 5,600.

The numbers showing gains blew away expectations of economists, who had been calling for a national decline of 15,000 jobs.

Most of the jobs were part-time, with more than 67,000 new positions, the data agency said. The flip side is that the economy lost more than 23,000 full-time jobs during the month.

Theconstruction, wholesale and retail trade, "other services," educational services, natural resources and public administration sectors added jobs.

"Some of that can be attributed to the recent recovery in the oil & gas industry," Capital Economics' David Madani said in a note, "but the 23,800 jobs in construction (possibly weather-related) are unlikely to last if housing activity softens in the comings months, in response to tighter mortgage rules that took effect last month."

There were fewer jobs in thebusiness, buildingand other support services categories.