The national labour market saw big gains in 2016 but unlike recent years the net job growth was propelled by a surge in the less-desirable category of part-time work.
Statistics Canada’s year-end employment review shows the country added 153,700 net new part-time jobs last year and just 60,400 full-time positions, a number so low it was statistically insignificant.
The 2016 figure represents a stark shift from year-end results in the past two years, when the agency reported gains of 156,000 full-time jobs in 2014 and 147,000 in 2015.
The national unemployment rate is 6.9 percent, up from 6.8 percent in November.
In Ontario, the unemployment was 6.4 percent last month, up from 6.3 percent the month before.
Meanwhile, the unemployment rate in the Pembroke, Kingston and Quinte regions was low, at 4.3 percent last month.
In December of last year, the rate for this part of Ontario was 5.6 percent.
