Canadian economy adds 15,400 jobs in February

The economy added 15,400 net new jobs last month and the unemployment rate edged down to 5.8 per cent — but the gains were due to a surge in part-time work that offset a heavy decline in full-time positions.

Statistics Canada’s latest labour force survey, released Friday, also found that the job gains in February were driven by an increase of 50,300 in public-sector jobs.

The country lost 39,300 full-time jobs and generated 54,700 part-time positions last month, the report said.

Looking back, the Canadian job market delivered a strong performance over a 12-month period by adding 282,500 positions for a 1.5 per cent expansion.

By region, there were very few changes in most provinces. New Brunswick saw the biggest increase – a boost of 1.5 per cent – as it gained 5,100 jobs.