Employment up in Canada in September

OTTAWA, Oct. 10 (UPI) -- Canada had 107,000 new jobs in September but the unemployment rate remained at 6.1 percent, Statistics Canada reported from Ottawa Friday.

The agency said 97,000 of the new jobs were part-time, and that the unchanged status of the unemployment rate was due to more people entering the labor force.

The number of private-sector employees rose by 56,000 in September, with the largest gains of 30,000 in the self-employed sector and 21,000 in the public sector, StatsCan said.

Employment rose by 45,000 among youths, by 41,000 for older workers and by 24,000 for core-aged women in September, the agency said.

While manufacturing jobs in Ontario are being hard-hit by automotive-related downsizing and plant closures, national employment in the sector rose by 20,000, primarily from gains in Alberta and Quebec, the report said.

The year-over-year growth in average hourly wages for September was 4.6 percent, above the most recent increase of 3.5 percent in the Consumer Price Index, the report said.