Canada’s economy churned out 26,300 new jobs in January, but the unemployment rate edged up to 6.6% as more people were looking for work, Statistics Canada said Friday.

The January jobless rate was up a tenth of a percentage point from December. The job-creation numbers were slightly higher than what economists had been expecting.

Among the provinces, Alberta’s jobless rate plunged 0.7 percentage points to a countrywide low of 3.5%. But the unemployment rate in Newfoundland and Labrador went up 1.1 percentage points to 16.5%.

All of January’s employment increase was due to the public sector. Statistics Canada said temporary hiring for the federal election helped boost employment in this area. The number of jobs in the private sector actually fell.

Alberta and British Columbia continued to reap rewards from a booming natural resources sector. Since the end of 2002, the number of jobs in this area has surged by almost 20%.

Manufacturing jobs continued to melt away. Statistics Canada said 41,600 factory jobs disappeared last month – mostly in Ontario. That’s the largest single monthly loss in this sector since the recession of 1991.

“Fewer new orders, a strong Canadian dollar and continued competition from foreign imports were some of the challenges facing manufacturers in recent months,” StatsCan said.

For all of 2005, the country added 271,000 jobs, while the number who can’t find work dropped by 44,100 in the same period.

Analysts called the jobs report underwhelming. “The deepening slide in manufacturing is notable, although solid gains in other areas continue to pick up the slack,” said BMO Nesbitt Burns deputy chief economist Doug Porter. “The moderation in wage growth will be welcome by the Bank of Canada.”