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Canada's jobless rate hits lowest point in 31 years

Canada's jobless rate fell to 6.4 percent last month, its lowest level in 31 years, lending fuel to Prime Minister Paul Martin's federal election campaign.

Sound economic management is a key platform issue for Martin, who was a longtime finance minister before becoming Liberal leader two years ago.

His minority government was toppled last week and he is gunning for votes in the Jan. 23 elections to elect a new House of Commons.

Not since December 1974 has the country's unemployment rate dropped as low as it reached last month, analysts said on Friday.

The addition of about 30,600 new full-time positions last month pushed the rate below October's 6.6 percent, which was also a record not seen in three decades, Statistics Canada reported.

"This was just a stunningly strong report," especially following 68,700 new jobs added in October, said Marc Levesque, chief Canadian strategist with TD Securities.

Christmas shoppers will likely be buoyed by the strong employment figures, which were spread fairly evenly across regions of the country and across most sectors.

It might also help allay concerns that consumers may have about the overall health of the country's job market after announcements this week of 1,800 job cuts at paper giant Domtar and about 900 layoffs at banking giant CIBC.

"We've had a drumbeat of layoff news in recent weeks and I think this kind of report is exceptionally encouraging for consumer confidence," said Doug Porter, deputy chief economist at brokerage BMO Nesbitt Burns.
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