Canada added 22,000 jobs last month, jobless rate ticks down to 6.2%

Canada's economy added 22,000 jobs last month, with a surge in part-time work offsetting a loss of full-time jobs.

Statistics Canada reported Friday the jobless rate declined by0.1percentage points to6.2 per cent the lowest it's been since October 2008, right before the financial crisis.

The economy added110,000 part-time jobs during the month, offset by a loss off 88,000 full-time jobs.

Ontario was the only province witha job surge, gaining 31,000 jobs in August enough to push the province's jobless rate down four ticks to it's lowest level since 2001, at 5.7 per cent.

Everywhere else, the economy either lost or gained a small number of jobs.

But there were a few reasons for concern buried in the numbers.

The closely watched manufacturing sector, for example, lost another 11,000 jobs during the month.

"While very solid on the surface, the details of this report are generally sluggish," Bank of Montreal economist Doug Porter said, pointing out thatthe total number of hours worked dipped by 0.1 per cent in August compared to July, despite the surge of new workers.

That could be asign that the amount of paid work in the economy is about the same, just being spread across a wider number of part timers.

"The details of the report were mostly on the soft side of the ledger," Porter said.