The number of jobs in Canada fell by 88,000 in January to give the labour market its steepest one-month drop in nine years.
The overall result was dragged down by a loss of 137,000 part-time positions. The overall decline helped push the national unemployment rate up to 5.9 per cent in January, from a revised 5.8 per cent the previous month.
But on the other hand, the agency says the economy generated 49,000 full-time positions last month.
Even with the overall decline in January, Canada has been on a strong run of job creation that has seen the country add 414,100 full-time jobs over a 12-month period for an increase of 2.8 per cent.
Here in PEI, our provincial unemployment rate rose to 10.6 per cent in January from 9.7 per cent in December. Employment on the Island rose by 100 with an increase of 13-hundred part time positions offsetting a drop of 11-hundred in full time positions.