Canada's economy maintained its record of creating jobs in April, but still suffered a decline in overall employment of about 5,000 jobs, says a new report from Statistics Canada.

While the national unemployment rate remained at 6.1 per cent, a 33-year low, the job losses primarily stemmed from the manufacturing and financial sectors.

Still, when adjusted for comparability, Canada's employment growth has outpaced that of the United States -- Canada's biggest trading partner -- during the first four months of the year.

The manufacturing sector losses equaled 19,000 jobs in April. Meanwhile, the services sector lost 17,000 jobs in finance, insurance, real estate and leasing, among other services.

With the exception of April, the services sector has been an employment saviour, with an estimated 406,000 additional jobs created in the past year -- 182,000 since the start of the year.

Overall, the economy experienced a net loss of about 15,000 full-time jobs -- offset mostly by gains in part-time employment.

"Longer term, this soft report hardly detracts from the bigger picture of a very healthy job market, with a very low jobless rate," said Douglas Porter, deputy chief economist at BMO Capital Markets, in a note.

Porter said wages are creeping higher as the labour market tightens, which may put pressure on the Bank of Canada to raise interest rates.

While not enough to offset losses in manufacturing, natural resource industries made gains last month, adding 11,000 workers to their sector.

Adult women again continued to set records, achieving an employment rate of 59.1 per cent in April and their lowest jobless rate ever at 4.7 per cent.

Older workers aged 55 and up also made significant gains in the labour market.

Regionally, Alberta saw a jump in employment growth after a two-month stall -- primarily in the services sector. The four Atlantic provinces also set new employment highs.

Quebec gained 23,000 additional jobs and pushed its unemployment rate to it lowest level in more than 30 years -- 7.2 per cent.

Employment in British Columbia declined by 16,000 and Ontario lost 38,000 full-time jobs last month.

Here's what happened provincially (previous month in brackets):

  • Newfoundland 12.9 per cent (14.3)
  • Prince Edward Island 9.4 (10.3)
  • Nova Scotia 8.0 (7.9)
  • New Brunswick 7.3 (7.4)
  • Quebec 7.2 (7.6)
  • Ontario 6.6 (6.5)
  • Manitoba 4.8 (4.3)
  • Saskatchewan 3.9 (3.8)
  • Alberta 3.4 (3.6)
  • British Columbia 4.4 (3.9)