Canada gained 40,600 jobs in March following three months of little change, according to seasonally adjusted numbers released today by Statistics Canada.

The number of full-time jobs rose by 35,300 in March and part-time jobs rose by 5,300.

Compared to the same month a year ago, Canada was up by 129,600 jobs in March, an increase of 0.7% due to growth in full-time work.

Canada’s unemployment rate fell 0.2 percentage points to 7.1%. Adjusted to US concepts, the unemployment rate in Canada was 6.1% in March versus 5.0% in the US.

Total employment in Canada was approximately 18.0 million in March.

By province, employment increased in Alberta, Manitoba, Nova Scotia and Saskatchewan and declined in Prince Edward Island. There was little change in the remaining provinces.

Employment in Ontario rose by 13,900 jobs in March when compared to the previous month; the province gained 26,300 full-time jobs but lost 12,400 part-time jobs. Ontario’s unemployment rate remained at 6.8% in March. 

Staffing Industry Analysts this week launched a brief survey of staffing firms in Canada to gather additional data for its annual report on the Canada staffing industry, which publishes towards end of April. All participants who fully complete the survey will receive a complimentary report providing summary statistics on the results. The deadline to participate is April 15 and the survey is available here.