Statistics Canada reported on Friday that the number of employed people rose by 289,600 m-o-m in May (or +1.8 percent m-o-m) after an unrevised decline of 1,993,800 m-o-m in the previous month. Economists had forecast a drop of 500,000 m-o-m.

Meanwhile, Canada's unemployment rose to 13.7 percent in May from 13.0 percent in April, below economists’ forecast for 15.0 percent. That was the highest rate recorded since comparable data became available in 1976.

According to the report, full-time employment increased by 291,400 (or +1.6 percent m-o-m) in May, while part-time jobs rose by 70,300 (or +2.8 percent m-o-m).

In May, the number of public sector employees fell by 21,200 (or -0.6 percent m-o-m), while the number of private sector employees surged by 329,700 (or +3.4 percent m-o-m). At the same time, the number of self-employed dropped by 18,800 (or -0.7 percent m-o-m) last month.

Sector-wise, employment increased both in goods-producing (+5.0 percent m-o-m) and service-producing (+1.0 percent m-o-m) businesses.