OTTAWA -
Canada's economy showed signs of coming out of recession in August, creating a surprisingly strong 27,100 jobs during a month when economists were still expecting losses.
Not all the news was good, however, as all of the jobs and then some were in the part-time category and the unemployment rate rose one-tenth of a point to 8.7 as more Canadians began looking for work.
August also saw a continued deterioration of full-time work, with the additional 3,500 job losses bringing the total since last October to 486,000.
And the 3.3 per cent rise in hourly wages during the month from last year was the lowest in more than two years.
Provincially, Saskatchewan was the only province to experience a sizable deterioration in the job market, losing 3,200 jobs. But the province still boasts Canada's lowest unemployment rate at five per cent.
As well, economists caution about reading too much into any one-month survey, pointing out that the national agency threw a head-fake in April by reporting 35,900 job gains in the middle of a severe slump, only to take them all away in May.
Still, the gains in part-time work, all in the private sector, and the noticeable slowing in the hemorrhaging of full-time employees in the past several months will be seen as welcome signs for the economy going forward.
Another positive was that employment in the private sector rose 49,000, the first increase in this group since last September.
Statistics Canada noted that while Canada has lost 387,000 jobs since last October, only 31,000 of those have come in the last five months.
The result also beat consensus expectations of a 15,000 job loss in month.
