Canada adds 32,300 jobs, all full time

The economy delivered 32,300 net new jobs last month as Canada generated a rush of full-time work that helped keep the national unemployment rate at its record low.

Statistics Canada said Friday the jobless rate stayed at 5.8 per cent in March for a second-consecutive month — and for the third time since December — to match its lowest mark since the agency started measuring the indicator in 1976. The only other time the rate slipped to this level was 2007.

The March gains were driven by a surge in full-time work. The labour- market survey showed the workforce added 68,300 fulltime positions, while the number of part-time jobs decreased by 35,900.

But looking underneath the headline numbers of the report, some economists argued the results were more of a mixed bag and contained little information to significantly alter the Bank of Canada’s thinking ahead of its April 18 interest-rate decision.

For instance, the data showed 19,600 of the new employee positions created were in the public sector. By comparison, the number of private-sector workers declined by 7,000.

TD senior economist Brian Depratto also noted that 19,800 of the new jobs came in the less desirable category of self employment, which is a classification that includes people working in a family business without pay. Depratto also pointed out that the number of hours worked remained relatively flat, as did wage growth.