Canada's economy adds more jobs in August

Canada's economy added 59,000 new jobs in August, pushing the unemployment rate down 0.1 percentage points to 7.1 percent, Statistics Canada announced Friday. The number of new jobs is by far exceeding analysts' expectation of 20,000 and also much higher than the employment gains averaging at 12,000 per month during the past half year. However, the new jobs are mainly part-time ones, concentrating among people aged 55 and over. Health care and social assistance, in which employment rose by 60,000, were the leading sectors with job gains in the month. "Employment in this industry has been on a long-term upward trend and has increased by 2.5 percent since August 2012," Statistics Canada said. Information, culture and recreation saw an increase in employment by 33,000 after two-month job decline. There are also more people working in accommodation and food services, and in construction. At the same time, there were fewer employed in educational services, finance, insurance, real estate and leasing, and agriculture. In August, employees increased by 39,900, mainly within the private sector, the agency added. Canadian dollar rose sharply by more than 1 percent against its U.S. counterpart on the news as well as the relatively poor jobs report in the United States.