Canada's unemployment rises to 7.5 %

Canada's unemployment rate edged up to 7.5 percent in December while employment increased in a swollen labor force, Statistics Canada reported Friday. The jobless rate had been 7.4 percent in November. "In December, an increase of 43,000 in part-time work was partially offset by a decline of 26,000 in full-time employment," the agency said. On an annual basis, total employment growth totaled 1.2 percent, or 199,000 jobs, mostly in the first half of the year, the report said. The number of self-employer workers was up 2 percent, a gain of 31,000 over the past 12 months. "Following declines in recent months, employment in manufacturing increased by 30,000 in December," StatsCan said. "At the same time, employment was down 7,200 in utilities, and was little changed in the other industries." Regionally, only the province of Quebec reported a decrease in jobs in December.