OTTAWA - Economists are expecting some positive news Friday morning when Statistics Canada issues its next report on unemployment but they also caution that seasonal factors will likely skew the numbers.

The consensus forecast ahead of the 7 a.m. Friday release of the monthly report is that about 30,000 jobs were added to the Canadian economy in August, and many economists think the number could be considerably higher.

But there's a big catch to projections. The positive reading will be mostly based on a technical correction to the previous month's jobs survey that showed the seasonal disappearance of 65,000 education jobs.

"The normal pattern is to regain those jobs in the following month except for once when they were regained in September," says Derek Holt, vice president of economics with Scotia Capital, who is calling for a 50,000 pick-up.

The education losses reported in July contributed to a shocking 139,000 loss in full-time jobs in July, reversing a string of gains in employment. An increase in part-time work in July lessened the impact, reducing the net number of jobs lost to 9,300 -- still the first decline.

The news on the Canadian economic front has been bleak ever since -- much as it has throughout the rest of the world.

Canada's economy was found to have grown only two per cent in the second quarter, about a third of the pace in the first. The hot housing market has caught a chill. And on Thursday, Statistics Canada reported that July's trade deficit was the biggest on records going back to 1971 in nominal terms -- $2.7 billion.

Against those indicators, job creation has been a relative pillar of strength. Even after the July setback, the Canadian economy has created 394,0000 jobs and the unemployment rate has slid from a recession high of 8.7 per cent to eight.

But economists note there are hundreds of thousands more Canadians of working age eligible for employment today than there existed before the recession, and recouping job losses still leaves the new entrants empty-handed. The unemployment rate, a more accurate measure of labour market health, remains about two points below the pre-slump low of 5.9 per cent.

Given the gap, the government is under pressure to delay the withdrawal of expanded employment insurance benefits -- notably five extra weeks of eligibility -- scheduled to lapse at the end of this week.

A spokesman for Human Resources Minister Diane Finley noted Thursday that laid off workers will still be collecting benefits under the program until the summer of 2011 in regions of high unemployment.

Speaking to reporters in Kitchener, Ont., Finance Minister Jim Flaherty said Canada needs to wind down stimulus on schedule and urged the private sector to take up the slack.

"I caution those who say continue with a lot of government spending. I don't know how you balance budgets," Flaherty said.

"We need the private sector to continue to step up, start to invest ... they've been making some profits, they've got some cash -- start investing and create more jobs than we've seen created."