Canada’s unemployment rate remained steady in April at 6.1%, matching a 33-year low, Statistics Canada said today.

“When adjusted for comparability to US definitions, employment growth for the first four months of the year was stronger in Canada compared to the United States,” the government agency said in a release.

While employment growth in the service sector paused in April, it has added an estimated 182,000 workers since the start of the year.

However, Canada’s economy shed 5,200 jobs last month, putting an end to the pattern of strong job gains seen since last September.

April’s job losses surprised analysts, who had been expecting payrolls to rise by 18,000 to 20,000 jobs.

Another 18,600 manufacturing jobs disappeared last month, bringing losses in factory employment to 89,400 positions in the past year. Financial services and professional and technical work were also weak areas, StatsCan reported.

Job gains were recorded in natural resources, trade, and health care and social assistance.

Alberta’s unemployment rate was again the lowest in the country. It fell 0.2 percentage points to 3.4% as the province churned out 12,100 net new jobs.

“Over the past 12 months, Alberta’s employment growth was more than double the national average,” Statistics Canada said.

Ontario lost almost 38,000 full-time jobs but added 21,000 part-time jobs. The province’s jobless rate edged up to 6.6%, from 6.5% in March.

Quebec saw its jobless rate fall to its lowest level in more than three decades to 7.2%, as it added almost 11,000 jobs.

British Columbia recorded a drop of 16,300 jobs, pushing up its unemployment rate by half a percentage point to 4.4%.

The Atlantic provinces all added jobs and three of them — Newfoundland and Labrador, P.E.I., and New Brunswick — recorded their highest employment rates ever.