P.E.I. lost 400 jobs from December 2015 to January 2016, according to Statistics Canada's latest labour force survey.

In January, the province reported 72,400 jobs, down from 72,800 in December.

Of the lost jobs, 300 were part-time.

Despite the drop, the unemployment rate in the province continued to fall as Islanders left the labour force. The term labour force refers to those both employed and seeking employment. There were 80,200 people in the labour force in January, compared to 80,600 in December.

That resulted in the unemployment rate falling: in January it was 9.5 per cent, down from 9.8 per cent in December.

The bigger picture: over the past year, January 2015 to January 2016, P.E.I. lost 1,600 jobs, most of which —

1,500 — were full-time jobs.