OTTAWA, Nov. 8 (Xinhua) -- Canadian unemployment rate remained at 5.5 percent in October, as the economy unexpectedly lost 1,800 jobs following two consecutive months of gains, Statistics Canada said on Friday.
The manufacturing sector lost 23,000 jobs, mostly in Ontario, while the construction sector lost 21,000. Employment in the "other services" industry also fell by 18,000.
The losses were offset in part by an increase of 20,000 jobs working in public administration and 18,000 in finance, insurance, real estate, rental and leasing.
Meanwhile, the number of self-employed workers in October fell by 27,800 compared with September, while public sector employees rose by 28,700. The number of private sector employees dropped by 2,700.
On a year-over-year basis, employment was up by 443,000, an increase of 2.4 percent, due to gains in full-time work. Over the same period, total hours worked were up 1.3 percent.
