Canada’s unemployment rate for October came in at 6.2%, down 0.2 percentage points from September, Statistics Canada said today.

Employment increased by an estimated 51,000 jobs last month following four months of little change.

Full-time employment showed continued strength, jumping by about 68,000 jobs in October, while part-time jobs were down by about 17,000.

Nationally, the unemployment rate for women 25 and over set a record low, dropping to 4.9%, while for adult men it edged down to 5.4%.

StatsCan said increases in education, construction, business, building and other support services as well as public administration more than made up for job losses in professional, scientific and technical services and agriculture.

The country’s manufacturing sector lost 15,000 jobs in October — the bulk of them in Ontario and Quebec. Over the first 10 months of 2006, losses have totaled 83,000 or down 3.8% across Canada.

Alberta and Saskatchewan continued to outpace the rest of the country in employment growth.

In Alberta alone, employment for the month increased by 23,000 in October, while the unemployment rate dropped half a percentage point to hit a three-decade low of 3%.

Saskatchewan added 3,000 jobs to push its jobless rate down 0.4 percentage points to 3.9%, a rate not seen since July 1981. Only Alberta had a lower unemployment rate last month.

Despite continuing losses from its manufacturing sector, which shed 18,000 jobs, Ontario’s overall employment rate held steady on gains in the finance, insurance, real estate, leasing and educational services sectors. The unemployment rate, declined to 6.4% as fewer people looked for work.