The Canadian jobs picture surprised on the upside Friday. Surred by a large gain in part-time jobs, employment jumped by 49,000 in June, following slight declines in the previous two months.

Statistics Canada reported that the unemployment rate edged down 0.1 percentage points to 7.7% in June.

Economists were dead wrong on today’s jobs report. They expected to see a decline. Although they are divided on how good the news really is, the report is expected to take a rate cut off the table for the Bank of Canada next week.

“This whopping gain wholeheartedly removes any talk of Bank of Canada interest rate cuts from next Tuesday’s agenda and should stifle at least some of the talk about Canada teetering on the brink of a dramatic economic deceleration,” declares RBC Financial.

However, TD Ban is more cautious. ‘Wait a minute before taking out the party hats and popping the bubbly — there was much less than meets the eye in this morning’s Canadian employment report,” it warns.

“For one, virtually all of the jobs created during the month were part-time positions. But most importantly, the private sector as a whole actually lost 12,000 jobs in June — hardly an indication that the Canadian economy is roaring ahead. In fact, this morning’s headline number was driven by a massive 37,000 increase in self-employed positions, and an equally hefty gain of 25,000 public-sector jobs. Put it all together, and the details of the report take almost all of the shine off the headline number.”

BMO Nesbitt Burns is more optimistic. It says, “Talk about resilient. Canadian employment rebounded in June, rising 48,800 versus expectations of another decline.” Nesbitt concedes that the bulk of the gains were in part-time positions, but it points out that even full-time positions scratched out a modest advance. “To say the least, this chops the odds of a Bank of Canada rate cut next week,” it says.

CIBC World Markets agrees, saying, “Despite obvious shortcomings in job quality, June’s astounding employment surge has bought the Bank of Canada at least a couple of months before it’s forced to consider an interest rate cut.”

On an industry basis, most of the gains were in the service sector. Manufacturers continued to cut workers.

CIBC also points out, “Not to be overlooked was another in a growing line of benign wage inflation readings. Year-over-year growth in average hourly earnings for permanent workers—a key inflation indicator watched by the Bank of Canada—slowed to a meager 1.4% in June. That’s down from the prior month’s 1.8% tally, and is roughly half the pace observed at this time last year.”