Canada's jobless rate stays at 6.9%

Canada's jobless rate was unchanged in October for the second straight month, as the number of jobs increased at the same rate as the number of people looking for work, says Statistics Canada.

"Employment was little changed," the data agency said in a release.

The national jobless rate was6.9 per cent last month, even as 13,200 new jobs were created. That's because the smalljobs gainwas offset by a similar increase in the number of jobseekers, keeping the rate at 6.9 per cent.

"That's the very good news here, that the drop below seven per cent wasn't a fluke " said Doug Porter, chief economist with the Bank of Montreal. "The bottom line is there is still some underlying improvement in the job market."

There were wide variances across the country.

But the gains were concentrated in one province, with Quebec posting an outsized 34,100 gain, while Ontario shed 14,700 workers.There were also small employment declines in British Columbia, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia.

Compared to the same month a year ago, there were214,000 more jobs in October 2013. A year ago, the unemployment rate was 7.4 per cent.