Surprise fall in Canada's unemployment rate in June

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Worker at Canada's Bombardier
Image caption,
The proportion of Canadians out of work fell slightly to 7.2% in June

In Canada, unemployment fell slightly from 7.3% to 7.2% in June and firms hired an extra 7,300 staff according to official data.

But, the figures , which were better than analyst forecasts, show a slowdown from the 140,000 jobs added in April.

The number of part-time jobs fell 22,000 as they were replaced by full-time positions which rose by 29,300.

Public sector employment rose by 45,800 over the past two months, while private companies have shed 48,500 staff.

Most of the new posts were in public sectors such as education and health.

Average hourly wages for permanent staff rose 3.3% in June from a year earlier. That was faster than May's 2.9% pace and the sharpest rise since August 2009.