Transport sector leads job gains

OTTAWA — On the heels of significant increases in April, nearly 25,000 jobs were added in Canada in May, many in the transportation and warehousing sector.

Although the unemployment rate was unchanged at 8.1 percent, May was the fifth consecutive monthly increase in employment, Stats Canada reports. Virtually all employment gains have been full-time work.

Employment in transportation and warehousing increased by 26,000, offsetting previous back-to-back declines. Overall, the sector is up 3.4 percent from April, but still down 2.7 percent from the same period last year.

Other industries with notable employment increases were health care, public administration and agriculture.

Little changed in manufacturing and construction, however.

Ontario led all provinces by adding 18,000 fill-time jobs in May.

But Newfoundland and Labrador employment is improving the fastest. Recent increases bring total growth since July 2009 to 6.7 percent, the most of any province.