The Canadian Press

Canada’s recovering economy continued to churn out new jobs last month, adding 60,000 full-time positions – mostly in the public sector and many filled by men aged 55 or more.

The February unemployment rate of 8.2% was the lowest reported by Statistics Canada since last April, before the country began to recover from a major recession.

The agency noted that the gain in full-time jobs – including 26,000 filled by men in the over-55 age group – was partially offset by a loss of 39,000 part-time positions.

As a result, there was a net gain of 21,000 full- and part-time jobs in February.

“Men aged 55 and over accounted for all of February’s employment gain,” Statistics Canada said.

The agency said 46,000 of the jobs created in February came in the government, public service sector, although the private sector also posted gains.

The goods producing sector, which again posted large losses during last year’s slump, also fared well as the troubled manufacturing industry picked up 17,000 workers, and natural resources rose 11,000.

Since July, Canada has added 159,000 new jobs, an impressive record considering the United States continues to shed workers.

That is about the time when Canada’s economy turned a corner from negative growth the positive, picking up steam in the last three months of 2009, when output rebounded strongly at 5% annualized growth.

Economists had been expecting a slightly more modest gain of 15,000, but also cautioned that a big number could be in the offing given the unseasonably mild weather during February and the Vancouver Olympics factor.

The latter seemed to be borne out as there were 27,000 additional jobs in the accommodation and food services industries and a 10,000 job gain in British Columbia that shaved 0.4 percentage points from the provinces unemployment rate.

But Statistics Canada said the construction industry dropped 11,000 workers, an unexpected development given the weather and the robust housing market.

Other sectors suffering setbacks included retail and wholesale trade (34,000), finance, insurance and leasing (22,000), and other services (13,000).

Meanwhile, business, building and other support services, and health care and social assistance were among the winners.

Regionally, most provinces were either on the positive side of the ledger or flat, with the notable exception of Alberta, which suffered a 15,000 employment decline in February.