Canada's impressive recent string of job gains came to an end last month as the economy actually shed 1,500 jobs for the first time since last September, although the unemployment rate did manage to slip to 7.7%.
That small amount of jobs losses is considered statistically irrelevant by economists — although it fell short of their call for a 20,000 gain. The number was also well off the 38,000 average job creation the economy had produced the previous three months.
Statistics Canada said the unemployment rate fell one-10th of a point because fewer Canadians were looking for work during the month.
But while the report was overall a disappointment, particularly for the Conservative government campaigning on their record of job creation, the underlying details of Friday's report were somewhat stronger.
March was a case of part-time jobs being switched for full-time work rather than of the overall movement.
The agency said there were 90,600 full-time jobs added, while part-time work fell by 92,100.
That brought the gains in full-time employment to 251,000 over the past 12 months, compared to a 54,000 increase in part-time employment during the period.
The significant gains in March came in the accommodation and food services sector, which saw a 36,000 increase; as well as construction, where 24,000 new jobs were added.
Meanwhile, 17,000 jobs vanished in the health care and social assistance industry and 13,000 in public administration. Manufacturing also saw a reversal of fortune, with a decline of more than 9,000 jobs.
The agency said men fared better than older women and youth during the month. Employment among males 25 and over increased by 32,000, while work among women over 55 fell by 17,000, the same number of jobs decline that occurred among youth aged 15 to 24.
Regionally, the big change was in Quebec, where 14,700 jobs were lost during the month. Prince Edward Island saw a significant pick-up relative to its population of 1,400. In Ontario, 63,000 new full-time jobs were mostly offset by the loss of 58,000 part-time employment.
