FEBRUARY JOBS NUMBERS DISAPPOINT.

OTTAWA • Maybe we shouldn’t read too much into Alberta’s fading employment story.

The oil- rich province’s jobless rate is now at 7.9 per cent — the highest since mid1995 — but still far below that of Newfoundland and Labrador, an economy also dependent on natural resources, which registered 14.1 per cent unemployment in February ( and even that was an improvement over the previous month).

Some other provinces are almost as bad off — such as Prince Edward Island, with an 11- per- cent jobless level, New Brunswick is at 9.9 per cent and Nova Scotia has a rate of 9.1 per cent.

All told, the national rate of joblessness was hovering around 7.3 per cent in February, a touch higher than the previous month, according to Friday’s report from Statistics Canada.

But that’s still below the most recent peak of 7.4 per cent in October 2012.

Yes, the economy shed a net 2,300 positions last month — many of them full- time jobs — when most economists had expected hiring to actually grow, by between 9,000 and 10,000, and with no change in the jobless reading.

“Lost a little bit amid the headlines about the weakness in Alberta is the fact that B.C. has been on fire,” said Douglas Porter, chief economist at BMO Capital Markets.

British Columbia’s economy gained about 14,100 positions in February, helping to hold the jobless rate at 6.6 per cent.

And some of the geo- graphic disparity is understandable.

“Many folks are either moving back to B. C. or people, who have moved to Alberta are now going further west in search of jobs,” Porter said.

“So, B. C. has seen very strong labour force growth and people are pouring in, not only from abroad, but from the rest of the country, as well. And February was just a small reflection of that trend. In some ways, that’s as big a story as the weakness in Alberta.”

Employment in the resources sector was hard hit in the aftermath of the collapse in energy prices, with oil and gas extraction activity contributing to much of the 8,900 in job losses overall in the sector, according to the federal data agency.

Jobs in Saskatchewan — another resources- reliant province — were also down in February, shedding 7,800 positions and kicking its unemployment rate up to 7.9 per cent from 7.4 per cent in January.

Surprisingly, Ontario was among those provinces taking an employment hit in February. The country’s biggest economy lost 48,900 full-time jobs and its jobless rate edge up to 6.8 per cent from 6.7 per cent.

But some analysts took the Ontario employment reading with a grain of salt.

“Ontario has c r eated 75,000 jobs over the past year — and i t’s seen the second- strongest gains in last 12 months among all the provinces.” BMO’s Porter said.

“So, I’m not especially worried about Ontario. Of course, I’d like to see the province do better in an environment where manufacturing is coming back,” he said.

“I would just put it ( last month’s loss of jobs) down to (the fact) it may have had unsustainable gains in the prior couple months.”

Overall, the number Canadians working in part-time jobs increased by 49,500 in February and full- time employees dropped by 51,800. The private sector gained 15,000 jobs, while the public sector lost 20,000 positions.

The services- producing sector — which i ncludes wholesale and retail trade — recorded the biggest loss in February, shedding 44,500 positions.

The construction sector, meanwhile, added 34,000 workers in February and manufacturers gained 7,600 jobs.

“When we l ook at the trends, what is interesting is the steady underlying gains we’re finally seeing in manufacturing,” said BMO’s Porter.

“I think there is more evidence here that we are seeing the economy rotate away from the natural research sector and relying on consumer spending, as well — and really starting to depend more on the manufacturing sector.”

The February employment report comes as Canada continues to struggle to find sustained growth, with the federal government expected to pour billions of dollars into the economy in the coming months and the Bank of Canada continues to hold its key lending rate at the 0.5-per-cent level set last year in the hopes of spurring much- needed business investment.

Friday’s j obs data “is unlikely to meaningfully change the BoC’s view of the economy and we expect the central bank to continue to wait for the fiscal stimulus to impact the economy before intervening again,” said Charles St- Arnaud, an economist at Nomura Global Economics.

“We think the BoC believes that the size of the fiscal package will be sufficient to allow the central bank to remain on the sidelines,” he said in a research note. “As such, we believe the BoC will remain on hold for the rest of the year.”