Statistics Canada reported on Friday that the number of employed people increased by 30,300 m-o-m in February (or +0.2 percent m-o-m), while economists had forecast a gain of 10,000 and after an unrevised advance of 34,300 in the previous month.

Meanwhile, Canada's unemployment rose to 5.6 percent in February from 5.5 percent in January, matching economists' forecast for 5.6 percent.

According to the report, full-time employment increased by 37,600 (or +0.2 percent m-o-m) in February, while part-time jobs declined by 7,300 (or -0.2 percent m-o-m).

In February, the number of public sector employees decreased by 600 (or flat m-o-m), while the number of private-sector employees rose by 33,500 (or +0.3 percent m-o-m). At the same time, the number of self-employed fell by 2,700 (or -0.1 percent m-o-m) last month.

Sector-wise, employment edged up both in goods-producing (+0.1 percent m-o-m) and service-producing (+0.2 percent m-o-m) businesses.