OTTAWA, Feb. 7 (UPI) -- Canada's unemployment rate dropped 0.2 percentage points in January, sliding to 7 percent on the addition of 29,000 jobs, Statistics Canada said Friday.
The government's data agency said employment has increased 0.8 percent, or by 146,000 jobs, in the past 12 months. Work hours have gained by 0.7 percent over the year.
The employment rate, meanwhile, fell 0.3 percentage points from January 2013, sliding to 61.6 percent, "as employment grew at a slower pace than the population," StatsCan said.
In January, employment increased by 15,000 in transportation and warehousing, but fell by 25,000 in business services and by 16,000 in public administration.
All of the gains were in the private sector with public employment little changed, StatsCan said. The majority of gains were in professional, scientific and technical services; finance, insurance and real estate; healthcare and social services; utilities and natural services.
