Strong job growth pushed Canada’s unemployment rate in May down to 7.2%, the lowest rate since July 2001.

Statistics Canada reported today that the May jobless rate was 0.1 percentage points lower than the 7.3% seen in April.

The economy added 56,000 jobs last month, handily beating economists’ expectations. Forecasters had been looking for 20,000 to 25,000 jobs to be added last month.

About 37,000 of those jobs were in full-time work, StatsCan said.

“Despite a pause during the first quarter of this year, May’s increase in employment brings job gains since August 2003, when the recent upward trend began, to 291,000,” the federal agency said.

Employment in the construction sector grew by 20,000 last month.

Manufacturing sector employment edged up 12,000, but the sector has not recovered the losses incurred between November 2002 and September 2003.

The strong job reports comes just ahead of the next Bank of Canada decision on interest rates on Tuesday, June 8.

“This will crank up talk that the bank will be tightening sooner than previously expected, although we still look for neutral language in next week’s press release from the bank,” BMO Nesbitt Burns chief economist Sherry Cooper said.

“However, look for the rhetoric to shift over the summer, setting the stage for a fall rate hike,” she added.