Canadian employment rose by 29,400 jobs in January to a total of almost 17.80 million, according to seasonally adjusted numbers released today by Statistics Canada. Full-time employment rose by 50,500 jobs while part-time employment fell by 21,100 jobs.

Over the past 12 months, employment increased by 146,000 jobs, or 0.8 percent. However, the employment rate fell to 61.6 percent as employment grew at a slower pace than the population.

The Canadian unemployment edged down to 7.0 percent in January from 7.2 percent in December.

Ontario gained 6,000 jobs in January for total employment of almost 6.9 million. Ontario gained 23,100 full-time jobs and lost 17,000 part-time jobs during the month. Ontario’s unemployment rate fell to 7.5 percent in January from 7.9 percent in December.

Saskatchewan and Alberta posted the lowest unemployment rates among all provinces in November at 4.3 percent and 4.6 percent respectively.