Canada's economy created an impressive 95,000 new jobs in May -- the biggest monthly gain in nearly 11 years -- blowing away the expectations of most analysts.

Economists had expected anywhere from 10,000 to 15,000 new jobs last month. Instead, the economy created several times more, sending the unemployment rate down one-tenth of a point to 7.1 per cent.

Even Prime Minister Stephen Harper seemed a little surprised by the numbers, cautioning that the Statistics Canada monthly reports are subject to wide margins of error.

"We don't obviously want to pay too much attention to what happens month to month, because we know this is very volatile, but the Canadian economy is now up to about a million net new jobs created since the recession," he said at a photo event in Ottawa.

Almost all the new jobs were created in the private sector, with the public-sector contributing only 6,600 new jobs. And almost all the jobs were full-time.

QUICK FACTS

  •  Unemployment rate: 7.1 per cent (7.2)
  •  Number unemployed: 1,347,600 (1,361,700)
  •  Number working: 17,749,400 (17,654,400)
  •  Youth (15-24 years) unemployment: 13.6 per cent (14.5)
  •  Men (25 plus) unemployment: 6.2 per cent (6.1)
  •  Women (25 plus) unemployment: 5.5 per cent (5.6)

Breakdown looks good for youth

Even young people appeared to have an easier time finding work in May, with about 54,000 new jobs created for those in the 15 to 24 age group. That pushed the youth jobless rate to 13.6 per cent, almost a full point lower than the previous month – suggesting it could be a good summer job market for youth.

Finance Minister Jim Flaherty said Thursday he was particularly pleased with the dip in the youth jobless rate.

“That’s the big story for me because that number hasn’t been that good for any month since 1986,” Flaherty told CTV’s Power Play.

Employment rose in most provinces, though Ontario saw the majority of the increases, creating 50,600 new jobs. Employment also rose by 18,600 in Alberta and 20,100 in Quebec.

Construction work saw a big surge across the country, and accounted for almost half the gains in May, rising by 42,700. The retail and wholesale trade industries added about 27,000 workers.

The country’s manufacturing sector, on the other hand, did not see a gain, and in fact lost 14,200 factory workers in May compared to April. Total losses in that sector in the past year are now at almost 100,000.

Flaherty said he was pleased to see that the new jobs created in May were mainly full-time and in the private sector – the types of jobs that help support economic recovery. But like the prime minister, he too noted that jobless numbers can vary considerably from month to month.

“I’d never trust one month’s worth of statistics but it’s a good indication of a trend that is positive with respect to the employment of young people,” he said.

He added, though, that Canada’s job market has recorded solid gains since the recession, the best record among all G-7 countries.

Flaherty noted that with May’s number, Canada now has over 1 million net new jobs created since the depth of the recession in July 2009.

“We’re getting going in the right direction here,” he said. “We’ve done well since the end of the recession, we need to stay the course.”

Finance Critic Peggy Nash said while the numbers represent a significant uptick, they also indicate volatility in the job market. She noted March saw a downturn in the market.

“We’re not seeing sustained growth, we’re still seeing continued underperformance and we just have to take it month by month,” Nash told Power Play.

The U.S. saw equally good news with its jobless numbers. The economy there created around 175,000 new jobs, a sign that hiring is improving at a steady, if modest, pace.

While the unemployment rate rose stateside to 7.6 per cent from 7.5 per cent in April, the increase was mostly due to the fact that more people began looking for work.

CTV’s chief financial commentator Pattie Lovett-Reid says that’s always a healthy sign.

“The key here is participation: people felt good and they want to get back into the labour force,” she said.