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The Canadian economy lost 51,600 net jobs in August in a decrease that drove up the unemployment rate and essentially wiped out the big gain in July.

Statistics Canada’s labour force survey says the jobless rate hit six per cent in August, up from 5.8 per cent in July.

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Economists had expected an increase of 5,000 jobs for the month and the unemployment rate to be 5.9 per cent, according to Thomson Reuters Eikon.

The employment drop last month was fuelled by a loss of 92,000 part-time positions — but on the positive side, the number of full-time jobs rose by 40,400.

WATCH: 51K jobs lost in August with majority in Ontario, Statistics Canada says. Alan Carter has more.

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The August decline followed a comparable net increase of 54,100 positions in July.

Ontario experienced the biggest decrease of the provinces by far with a loss of 80,100 jobs – almost all of which were part-time positions.

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