Canadian economy soared in April

CANADA - The Canadian economy continued to soar in April with major gains in almost all sectors, creating an extraordinary 108,700 new jobs. It was the biggest gain since August 2002. Economists were only predicting 25,000 new jobs to be created and are stunned by the sudden upswing in job creation.

Statistics Canada said the country added 44,000 full-time jobs during April and all were in the private sector. There were also approx. 65,000 part-time jobs added.

Employment increased across all age groups, both men and women, in all of Canada's provinces. The unemployment rate dropped one-tenth of a point to 8.1%.

Ontario led the way with a 40,500 increase. The other big gainers were: Quebec, 35,000; British Columbia, 13,000; Alberta, 10,000, and Manitoba, 7,000.

The largest increases were in retail and wholesale trade (32,000), business, building and other support services (31,000), construction (24,000), and information, culture and recreation (20,000). The only sector that had a decline was manufacturing which shed 21,000 workers in April.

So far Canada has recouped 285,000 of the 387,000 jobs lost during the 2007-2009 recession. Thats a little over 73.6% recovery.