Canada added 9,300 jobs in December to bring total employment to more than 18.8 million, according to seasonally adjusted numbers released today by Statistics Canada. The number of full-time jobs fell by 18,900, but the number of part-time jobs rose by 28,300.

In addition, the gain in jobs for December was propelled by the number of self-employed people, which rose by 46,400 in December. That increase more than offset the decline of 17,100 public-sector employees and 20,000 private-sector employees.

December’s unemployment rate was 5.6%, unchanged from November.

For the year, employment rose by 163,000 jobs, an increase of 9.9% compared to the increase of 2.3% in 2017.

Looking at just Ontario, the number of jobs rose by 17,600 in December compared to November. The province added 29,300 part-time jobs and lost 11,600 full-time jobs. The unemployment rate fell to 5.4% from 5.6% in November.