Canada's economy added 35,000 new jobs in December, bringing the total for the year 2019 as a whole to 320,000.
Statistics Canada reported Friday that most of the new jobs were added in Ontario and Quebec, which added 25,000 and 21,000 new jobs, respectively.
But strong job markets in those two provinces were offset somewhat by job losses in B.C., Alberta, Saskatchewan, Nova Scotia and Newfoundland and Labrador.
Economists had been expecting the number to come in at around 25,000 new jobs total, so December's gain was slightly better than expected. It was also enough to nudge the jobless rate down three points to 5.6 percent.
CBC News · Posted: Jan 10, 2020 8:52 AM ET | Last Updated: January 10
