Greater Sudbury added about 500 jobs in September, pushing the city's unemployment rate down to 6.4 per cent, according to Statistics Canada's monthly labour survey.
About 80,900 people had jobs in the city last month, StatsCan reported Friday, compared to 80,400 in August. However, that's still 500 fewer jobs than we had at the same time last year, when the jobless rate stood at six per cent.
The monthly survey is an estimate of the local employment situation, and the actual rate could be as low as 5.6 per cent or as high as 7.2 per cent.
Nationally, Canada's job market gained 63,000 positions in September, edging the unemployment rate lower to 5.9 per cent, and offsetting job losses in August.
September's increase in employment was largely driven by gains in part-time work, with part-time jobs up by around 80,000, the agency said in its monthly labour force survey.
Economists had estimated the country would add 25,000 jobs in September, according to Thomson Reuters Eikon.
The job gains were also almost entirely in Ontario and British Columbia, with little change in the other provinces.
The latest monthly report from Statistics Canada indicates the jobs market remains volatile, after August saw a decline of more than 51,000 positions, raising the unemployment rate to 6.0 per cent, after two months of increases
On a year-over-year basis, Canada gained 222,000 jobs since September 2017.
StatsCan reported that all of the job gains in September were made by workers in the core 25-to-54 age range, with virtually no change in youth employment.
September's youth unemployment rate stood at 11.0 per cent, up by 0.1 percentage points from the previous month.
Men in the core age bracket gained the most, with 34,000 jobs while women also saw increases of 20,000 positions.
The agency said the number of self-employed Canadians declined by 35,000 after recording an almost equal total increase over the past 12 months.
Many of the jobs were found in construction, up by 28,000 in September, reversing two previous monthly declines.
Around 13,000 jobs were added in finance, insurance, real estate and rental and leasing, mostly in Ontario and Alberta.
Employment increased by about 12,000 in the public sector, which has seen a rise of about 20,000 jobs overall since last September.
– Files from Canadian Press
