Edmonton's unemployment rate rose unexpectedly last month, with the city losing 4,000, largely part-time jobs.

"We've now had two months of rather poor employment results," says city economist John Rose, "which is very unfortunate."

Statistics Canada reported Friday that the city's jobless rate rose to 8.5 per cent last month, from 7.9 per cent in June.

"I was expecting that over the course of the summer we would see employment flat but not declining," Rose said.

The job losses were largely in transportation, warehousing, business services and education services, he said.

The good news, however, is the city made gains in full-time employment.

"We did see full-time employment gains in both manufacturing and construction, which is very heartening," Rose said. "Because both of those industries had taken very serious hits in mid-2016.

"It's a really good sign, because these are relatively high-paying full-time jobs."

Another good sign is the confidence in the city's economy shown by workers arriving in the city, Rose said.

"We are continuing to see the working age population and the labour force continue to grow, which is a positive sign in the sense that people continue to come here and seek employment."