Canada’s unemployment rate fell by 0.3 percentage points to 6.5% in January of this year.
However, Statistics Canada said that employment across Canada decreased by 25,000 positions, or 0.1%, in January.
The unemployment rate declined during January because fewer people were searching for work, said the Ottawa-based statistical agency.
In January, employment fell by 27,000 positions among core-aged women (25 to 54 years old). There was little employment change among the other major demographic groups.
Across the economy, employment declines were broad based, with manufacturing positions falling 28,000, educational services losing 24,000 jobs, and public administration seeing 10,000 positions eliminated.
Those losses were offset by employment gains in information, culture, and recreation (up 17,000), business, building, and other support services (up 14,000), and agriculture (up 11,000).
Employment across Canada decreased by 67,000 jobs in Ontario, Canada’s most populous province. However, employment rose in Alberta (up 20,000) and Newfoundland (up 3,800).
Employment was little changed elsewhere in the country.
Average hourly wages among employees rose 3.3% year-over-year in January to $37.17 following growth of 3.4% in December.
