OTTAWA—The national labour market unexpectedly added 48,300 jobs last month thanks to surges in part-time and private-sector work, Statistics Canada said Friday. The agency’s January employment survey showed an increase of 32,400 part-time positions and a smaller gain of 15,800 jobs in the more-desirable category of full-time work. The report also found that private-sector jobs rose 32,400 between December and January, compared with an increase of 7,700 public-sector positions. The increases helped drop the unemployment rate last month to 6.8 per cent from 6.9 per cent. Economists had projected the job numbers to stay unchanged last month and for the unemployment rate to hold at 6.9 per cent, according to Thomson Reuters.

Source: thestar February 10, 2017 13:54 UTC