Economy lost 41,000 jobs in July but unemployment rate held steady at 6.9%

OTTAWA — The Canadian economy shed some 41,000 jobs in July as young workers and the private sector bore the brunt of the losses, Statistics Canada said Friday.

The unemployment rate held steady at 6.9 per cent as the number of job seekers was roughly unchanged from June.

The economy lost 51,000 full-time positions in July, and StatCan said the bulk of the losses were in the private sector.

July's drop in jobs partially offsets an unexpected gain of 83,000 positions in June.

Economists had expected a slight job gain ahead of Friday's release.

Doug Porter, chief economist at BMO, said in a note to clients that July's jobs report marked the weakest in three years, according to the bank's report card.

He noted that total hours worked fell 0.2 per cent in July, marking a poor start to th