Statistics Canada reported on Friday that the number of employed people increased by 62,100 m-o-m in November (or +0.3 percent m-o-m) after an unrevised increase of 83,600 m-o-m in the previous month. This was the smallest employment gain since the Canadian labour market started to recover in May.

Economists had forecast an advance of 20,000 m-o-m.

Meanwhile, Canada's unemployment rate fell to 8.5 percent in November from 8.9 percent in October, exceeding economists’ forecast for 8.9 percent. That was the lowest rate since March.

According to the report, full-time employment rose by 99,400 (or +0.7 percent m-o-m) in November, while part-time jobs declined by 37,400 (or -1.1 percent m-o-m).

In November, the number of public sector employees increased by 31,600 (or +0.8 percent m-o-m), while the number of private sector employees rose by 23,100 (or +0.2 percent m-o-m) and the number of self-employed grew by 7,400 (or +0.3 percent m-o-m) last month.

Sector-wise, employment increased both in goods-producing (+1.2 percent m-o-m) and service-producing (+0.1 percent m-o-m) businesses.