Canada\\\'s unemployment rate falls slightly in Mar

VANCOUVER, Apr 5 (Xinhua): Canada's unemployment rate declined slightly to 6.9 per cent in March as employment increased by 43,000, driven by gains among youths, Statistics Canada said on Friday.
Overall employment growth in Canada has been subdued since August 2013, the government statistics agency said in a labour force survey.
The number of people working rose by 190,000 compared with March 2013, it said, adding that over this 12-month period, employment and the number of hours worked grew at the same pace -- 1.1 per cent.
The employment increase, although mostly part-time, was the best in months and a positive sign to the economy which had been having difficulty gathering momentum during the unusually cold winter.
The vast majority of the new jobs went to Canadian youths aged 15 to 24 that have mostly been left behind during the recovery, the data showed. Employment rose by 33,000 among the youths in March, while it was little changed for the other demographic groups.
The overall youth unemployment rate, however, remained at 13.6 per cent as more youths struggled to break into the labour market, the data showed.
From the industry perspective, employment in health care and social assistance increased by 24,000 in March, continuing a long- term upward trend, while the agriculture sector continued to shed jobs as there were 12,000 fewer people working in the industry.
Public sector employment rose by 39,000 last month, with most of the gains in health care and social assistance, the survey said.
In British Columbia, 18,000 new jobs were created last month, the largest employment growth since the autumn of 2012, it showed.
The gain pushed its unemployment rate down by 0.6 percentage points to 5.8 per cent, making it the fourth lowest province in the country, after Saskatchewan, Alberta and Manitoba, the survey revealed.