OTTAWA (Reuters) - Canada added 378,200 jobs in September and the unemployment rate fell to 9.0%, handily beating analyst expectations, as children returned to school and the economy continued to reopen from coronavirus shutdowns, Statistics Canada said on Friday.
Analysts in a Reuters poll had predicted a gain of 156,600 jobs and for the unemployment rate to fall to 9.7% from 10.2% in August.
The gain brought employment to within 720,000 of its pre-pandemic level, Statscan said.
"It's a good number. It's very encouraging that we didn't decelerate in September," said Andrew Kelvin, chief Canada strategist at TD Securities.
"Obviously there are some headwinds coming with COVID cases starting to rise again, but it's a very encouraging print nonetheless," he added.
The Canadian dollar strengthened to a 3-week high at 1.3150 to the greenback, or 76.05 U.S. cents.
Full-time employment rose by 334,000 and compared with 44,200 new part-time positions. Employment in the goods-producing sector grew by 75,100 jobs, while the services sector grew by 303,100 positions.
If those who wanted to work but did not look for a job were included as unemployed in September, the adjusted unemployment rate would have been 11.9%, Statscan said.