Canada's labour market performed worse than expected in November, shedding 36,000 jobs as the unemployment rate rose a notch to 7.1 per cent.
Economists had been expecting a milder 10,000 decrease in jobs.
Young workers (aged 15 to 24) took the brunt of the losses, accounting for 24,000 of the lost jobs, while employment was more steady in other age groups, Statistics Canada said.
"Compared with 12 months earlier, employment for youths decreased by 46,000 (down 1.8 per cent), while their population declined by 41,000 (down 0.9 per cent)," StatsCan said.
Employment fell in Alberta, Manitoba, New Brunswick and P.E.I., and was "virtually unchanged" elsewhere, the agency said.
Alberta lost 15,000 jobs in the month, and its unemployment rate rose four ticks to 7 per cent -- the highest the province has seen since April, 2010, when Canada was still recovering from the financial crisis.
Canada's unemployment rate, 2010-present
The country lost a total of 62,000 paid positions, but that was partly offset by an increase of 26,000 in the number of people calling themselves self-employed — which economists say is sometimes just a euphemism for being unemployed.
Some of the lower job numbers were due to election hiring coming to an end, following October's vote. Public administration jobs were down 33,000 in the month. But private-sector employment also fell, by a larger 41,000.
Hiring was up by 17,000 in manufacturing, the first gain since May. Construction hiring was up by 15,000. But StatsCan noted employment levels in both of these sectors are basically unchanged over the past year.
Employment was down in wholesale and retail; finance, insurance and real estate; and information and cultural industries.
Canada's national unemployment rate was 7.1 per cent in November. Here's what happened provincially (previous month in brackets):
— Newfoundland and Labrador 13.0 per cent (13.0)
— Prince Edward Island 10.4 (9.9)
— Nova Scotia 8.6 (7.8)
— New Brunswick 8.7 (9.0)
— Quebec 7.5 (7.7)
— Ontario 6.9 (6.8)
— Manitoba 6.1 (5.3)
— Saskatchewan 5.5 (5.6)
— Alberta 7.0 (6.6)
— British Columbia 6.2 (6.3)
Statistics Canada also released seasonally adjusted, three-month moving average unemployment rates for major cities but cautions the figures may fluctuate widely because they are based on small statistical samples. (Previous month in brackets.)
— St. John's, N.L. 6.2 per cent (6.5)
— Halifax 6.1 (5.9)
— Moncton, N.B. 5.8 (6.2)
— Saint John, N.B. 7.3 (7.7)
— Saguenay, Que. 7.6 (8.4)
— Quebec 4.8 (5.0)
— Sherbrooke, Que. 6.3 (6.6)
— Trois-Rivieres, Que. 6.9 (6.9)
— Montreal 8.6 (8.7)
— Gatineau, Que. 6.4 (6.6)
— Ottawa 6.3 (6.1)
— Kingston, Ont. 6.7 (6.8)
— Peterborough, Ont. 8.6 (8.4)
— Oshawa, Ont. 7.8 (8.0)
— Toronto 7.0 (7.1)
— Hamilton, Ont. 6.0 (5.5)
— St. Catharines-Niagara, Ont. 7.8 (7.3)
— Kitchener-Cambridge-Waterloo, Ont. 5.9 (6.0)
— Brantford, Ont. 5.4 (5.3)
— Guelph, Ont. 4.2 (4.0)
— London, Ont. 6.8 (7.1)
— Windsor, Ont. 10.0 (9.8)
— Barrie, Ont. 6.1 (6.6)
— Sudbury, Ont. 8.2 (7.4)
— Thunder Bay, Ont. 5.3 (4.9)
— Winnipeg 5.7 (5.6)
— Regina 4.0 (4.1)
— Saskatoon 6.1 (6.1)
— Calgary 6.9 (6.7)
— Edmonton 6.1 (6.0)
— Kelowna, B.C. 6.2 (7.2)
— Abbotsford, B.C. 7.2 (6.8)
— Vancouver 5.8 (5.9)
— Victoria 6.3 (6.1)
— With files from The Canadian Press
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