Canadian employment edged up in April

Ottawa -- Canada's employment rose slightly in April by 19,000 full-time and self-employed positions, Statistics Canada reported Friday.

However, because more people entered the work force, the unemployment rate also inched up to 6.1 percent in April, the agency said.

The gain in employment represents a 0.5 percent increase to 64.5 percent of the population.

In April, manufacturing employment continued declining in April and the number of factory workers decreased by 112,000 since April 2007, StatsCan said. Construction employment grew by 16,000 jobs.

In the past 12 months, employment gains in Canada amounted to about 348,000 jobs, or a 2.1 percent increase, the report said.

Growth in average hourly wages was 4.3 percent in April, which was well above the Consumer Price Index growth of 1.4 percent, the analysis said.

Copyright 2008 by United Press International.