Canadian employment fell by 45,900 jobs in December from November, and the unemployment rate ticked up to 7.2 percent from 6.9 percent in November, according to seasonally adjusted numbers released today by Statistics Canada.

Full-time employment fell by 60,000 jobs in December, but that was partially offset by a gain of 14,200 part-time jobs.

Canada had a total of 17.77 million jobs in December.

The number of jobs in Ontario fell by 39,300 in December from the previous month. Ontario lost 26,700 full-time jobs and lost 12,500 part-time jobs.

Ontario’s unemployment rate rose to 7.9 percent from 7.2 percent in November.

Saskatchewan posted the lowest unemployment rate among all provinces in December at 3.9 percent.