The jump in jobs was more than 10 times the consensus estimate of analysts, who had projected an increase of 10,000 after August's jump of 15,200 and the biggest monthly net job gain in 30 years.

The unemployment rate held steady at 6.1% as nearly 114,000 people entered the labour force during September.

The majority of the September increase (96,600 jobs) came in the part-time sector. Only two provinces, British Columbia and Newfoundland and Labrador, saw employment decline from the previous month.

The September results brought to 194,000 the number of net new jobs created in Canada during the first nine months of the year, down from 275,000 in the same period of 2007. The increase stands in sharp contrast to the situation in the United States, where net jobs were down 790,000 nine months into the year.

The service sector added 60,600 jobs in September, led by health care and social assistance (+40,000). The goods producing sector, meanwhile, was up by 46,300, with manufacturing showing the strongest increase (+19,700).

Agriculture was up 14,700 jobs, construction added 14,400 and business, building and support services gained 19,800. Accommodation and food services showed the biggest job loss in the month, down 15,800.

Employment gains in the month were concentrated in the private sector, which was up 56,200. The public sector added 20,600 and the number of self-employed workers rose by 30,100.

Ontario generated 52,200 net new jobs in September, bringing the annual job gain to 113,100, up 1.7% year-over-year. Quebec employment rose 31,700 from August (+25,400 year-over-year).

Employment in Alberta rose by 17,200 compared with August (+50,100 y/y) while in Saskatchewan 7,700 net new jobs were added (+16,100 y/y).

Newfoundland and Labrador saw employment shrink by 2,700 in September (-400 y/y) and British Columbia was down 5,700 (+49,400 y/y).

The year-over-year growth in average hourly wages for September was 4.6%, up from 3.8% in August.

By Geoff Matthews, This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it , edited by Stephen Huebl, This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it

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