12000 jobs added in September: StatsCan

In the United States the rate was 5.1 per cent. Compared with September 2014, the unemployment rate in Canada edged up by 0.1 percentage points, while the U.S. rate fell by 0.8 percentage points.

The number of people with full time jobs dropped from 204.3,000 to 199.9,000 while the number of part-time jobs climbed from 35.3,000 to 36,000 as students returned to school.

Canada added 12,100 jobs in September but the unemployment rate unexpectedly rose to the highest in a year-and-a-half as more people were looking for work, data from Statistics Canada showed on Friday.

In the natural resources sector, 2,600 jobs, or 0.7 per cent, were lost in September while employment is down 20,300 positions, or 5.4 per cent, from a year ago. 63,000 positions were added in the first quarter, 33,000 in the second and 31,000 in the third. Protracted labor talks between the government of Ontario, Canada’s largest province, and its teachers-which may have led to delayed hiring or renewal of contracts-likely played a role in the poor result.

It was the last major piece of economic data ahead of a Bank of Canada interest rate decision and a federal election later this month.

The jobs report was filled “with a lot of quirkiness”, Avery Shenfeld, chief economist at CIBC World Markets, said in a note.

The Canadian dollar pared a few of its strength against the greenback immediately after the report was released, though it remained firmer against the US dollar as oil prices rose.