OTTAWA, Jan 5: Canada’s unemployment rate fell to a 30-year low in December as 62,000 new jobs were created, the government said on Friday. Statistics Canada said in a report that the national unemployment rate fell 0.2 percentage points to 6.1 per cent last month.

Over the course of 2006, seven of 10 provinces registered record high employment rates, while six saw 30-year record low unemployment rates, the government agency said.

Employment increased across most industries in 2006, including a 10.9 per cent rise in the so-called natural resource sector and a 6.9 per cent gain in the finance, insurance, real estate and leasing industries.

There was continued weakness, however, in manufacturing, which saw job growth decline 2.7 per cent.—AFP