Canada’s unemployment rose 0.3 percentage points in March to 8%, the highest rate in seven years.

Employment declined by 61,000 in last month, Statistics Canada said Thursday, all in full-time work.

The job losses were roughly in line with economists expectations. They had forecast the jobless rate to rise to 8% from 7.7%, with a net loss of 57,500 jobs.

Losses in March were widespread across a number of industries, most notably in manufacturing; finance, insurance, real estate and leasing; construction; and natural resources.

All of the employment losses were among private sector employees, down 68,000.

Employment in manufacturing fell by 34,000 in March.

Construction employment also declined in March, down 18,000, the third notable decrease in four months.

For the second month in a row, employment in natural resources declined, down 11,000 in March.

In the services sector, employment in finance, insurance, real estate and leasing fell by 20,000 in March.
These declines were offset by increases in “other services” , up 23,000, and business, building and other support services, up 13,000, in March.

Since peaking in October 2008, employment has fallen each month, with net losses totalling 357,000, or 2.1%. In percentage terms, this is the largest decline over a five-month period since the 1982 recession, StatsCan said.

Since October, full-time employment has declined by 2.8%, or 387,000, while part-time has edged up 0.9%, or 30,000.

Employment fell in several provinces in March, with the largest declines in British Columbia, down 23,000, Alberta, down 15,000, and Ontario, down 11,000. Since October, these three provinces also had the fastest rate of employment decreases.

IE