Canada sheds 45,000 jobs in July

Canadian employment fell by 45,000 jobs in July, which wasn’t enough to change the unemployment rate of 8.6 percent, Statistics Canada reported Friday.

The agency said the bulk of job losses were in Quebec, Saskatchewan and Newfoundland/Labrador.

Since October, total job losses stand at 414,000, or 2.4 percent. The 8.6 percent national unemployment rate is the highest since 1998, StatsCan said.

July’s unemployment rate for students climbed to 20.9 percent, a 7.1 percentage point increase from July 2008, the report said. This was the highest July unemployment rate for these students since comparable data became available in 1977.

In the private sector, 75,000 jobs were lost in July, upping the total since October to 436,000. Self-employment rose by 35,000 in July, an increasing trend seen in finance, insurance, real estate and leasing, professional, scientific and technical services, the agency said.