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OTTAWA — The Canadian economy appears to have fallen back to Earth at the tail end of 2015.

Employment growth crumbled in November, returning most of its election-fuelled job gains from the previous month, while new data show the country’s exports to the United States have tumbled to the lowest point in almost two-and-a-half years.

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Don’t expect that trajectory to alter in the coming months.

The labour force lost 35,700 positions overall last month, pushing the jobless rate to 7.1 per cent from seven per cent in October, Statistics Canada said Friday.

Most analysts had predicted a decline of about 10,000 jobs in November, following a jump of more than 44,000 in the previous month — a snapshot of the labour force that was brightened most likely by temporary hiring during the Oct. 19 election campaign, which ran much longer than usual.