According to Statistics Canada, after three months of little change, employment in Canada increased by 41,000 (+0.2 percent) in March, lowering the unemployment rate by 0.2 percentage points to 7.1 percent. With the gains in March, employment grew by 0.2 percent in the first quarter (+33,000). This was the fourth consecutive quarter with 0.2 percent employment growth.
Employment increased in health care and social assistance, accommodation and food services, professional, scientific and technical services as well as 'other services.' In contrast, there were fewer people employed in manufacturing. The number of private sector employees increased in March, while there was little change in the number of public sector employees and self-employed workers.
Adjusted to US concepts, the unemployment rate in Canada was 6.1 percent in March versus 5.0 percent in the United States.