August sees job surge in Canada with 81,000 new positions

Statistics Canada says there was a job surge in Canada last month with 81,000 net new positions.

The bulk of the jobs were part time, in the service sector and hired young people.

The report says 57,200 of the new jobs were part time and 42,000 of the positions were held by workers aged 15 to 24 years old, almost all of whom were women.

The report, which was released Friday, says the overall monthly gain is the biggest since Canada added 106,500 jobs in April. However, wage growth has slowed down.

August’s unemployment rate remained the same at 5.7 per cent as more people looked for work.

Across the country, the biggest employment increases were in Ontario and Quebec, while Manitoba, Saskatchewan and New Brunswick saw smaller gains.