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This article was published 10/6/2017 (1203 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The Manitoba economy posted a net gain of 2,700 new jobs last month, enabling the province to maintain the lowest unemployment rate in the country, new Statistics Canada data shows.

In it’s latest monthly Labour Force Survey report released on Friday, the agency said the local economy created 7,000 new full-time positions in May. But those gains were partially offset by the loss of 4,300 part-time positions.

The net gain was still big enough to nudge down the provincial unemployment rate to 5.3 per cent from 5.4 per cent in April.

May was the second consecutive month that Manitoba has boasted the country’s lowest jobless rate. British Columbia had the second lowest at 5.6 per cent.

The May data also showed a net gain of 7,000 jobs for Manitoba over the previous 12 months — 7,200 new full-time positions, minus 200 part-time ones.

Nationally, the labour market rode a surprisingly strong wave of new jobs in May as the country churned out 77,000 full-time positions, Statistics Canada said.

Overall, 54,400 jobs were added in May after accounting for declines in other categories including part-time work, the latest labour force survey shows. The agency found the national unemployment rate edged up to 6.6 per cent, a rise of 0.1 of a percentage point, as more people entered the job market in search of work.

The fresh numbers added to several positive labour-market gains since the middle of 2016.

The survey said the latest monthly number means overall employment was 1.8 per cent higher compared to a year earlier.

Analysts applauded the above-expectations headline figures Friday, as well as most of the finer details in the report.

"There’s a lot to like here," said TD senior economist Brian DePratto, who noted it added yet another good set of data to a growing stack of positive economic numbers in recent months.

"We think the Canadian economy is in a very good place right now."

In his research note to clients, BMO’s Benjamin Reitzes called the jobs survey "a solid report almost from top to bottom."

A closer look at the data showed healthy gains in some of the survey’s more-desirable categories — with 59,400 new jobs created in the private sector and 68,500 new paid employee positions.

By industry, the services sectors gained 31,300 jobs last month while factories added 23,300 positions. In services, there was a gain of 25,900 jobs in the professional, scientific and technical services category.

The numbers easily eclipsed expectations leading up to the survey’s release.

Economists had expected a gain of 11,000 jobs and for the unemployment rate to move up to 6.6 per cent, according to Thomson Reuters.

By province, Ontario, British Columbia and Quebec saw the biggest job gains last month, according to Statistics Canada.

Quebec’s unemployment rate dropped 0.6 percentage points to six per cent — its lowest level since Statistics Canada started collecting the data in 1976.

DePratto said the only soft numbers in the report Friday were the still-weak data for wage growth and hours worked, although he added they did improve somewhat in May.

The agency said hourly wages for all employees grew 1.3 per cent year-over-year last month, an increase over April’s all-time low of 0.7 per cent. The number of hours worked rose 0.7 per cent, the report said.

DePratto said the jobs numbers — combined with other robust economic figures of late, including growth, trade, and retail — will likely start to tilt the Bank of Canada towards hiking its benchmark interest rate.

— Canadian Press, with files from Murray McNeill