Ontario gained 27,000 jobs in November, its largest single gain in 14 months, Statistics Canada reported Friday.

"The unemployment rate, at 9.3 per cent, was unchanged in November," the national agency said in its monthly labour force survey, adding that the national rate declined by 0.1 percentage point to 8.5 per cent.

"While employment in Ontario remains well below its October 2008 level (-179,000 or -2.7 per cent), since May 2009, employment has edged up slightly."

Ontario gained 21,800 full-time jobs and 5,300 part-time positions in November.

Danielle Zeitsma, an economist with Statistics Canada, told ctvtoronto.ca that public and private-sector employment grew by 41,000 jobs, while self-employment shrank by 14,000 jobs.

If one broke it down further, public-sector jobs rose by 32,000, mostly in education, while there were only a total of 9,000 private-sector jobs created, she said.

Jobs in the goods-producing sector of the Ontario economy fell by 4,000, Zeitsma said.

Across Canada, 39,000 full-time jobs were created, which is the third consecutive monthly increase. There were 40,000 part-time jobs created, after two months of declines. TD Economics analyst Pascal Gauthier wrote that this was a "stunning display of unexpected strength."

Quebec and Alberta are two other provinces that saw strong growth.

Statistics Canada said since March, employment decline has slowed in manufacturing and picked up in construction and service industries.

""Unlike the service sector, the goods producing sector has a long way to go before it repairs the damage done over the recession," TD Economics analyst Diana Petramala wrote.

Here are the unemployment rates for selected Ontario cities (the October rate is in brackets):

  • Toronto - 9.5 per cent (9.6)
  • Hamilton - 8.0 (8.4)
  • Kingston - 6.2 (6.1)
  • Kitchener - 9.1 (9.0)
  • London - 9.9 (10.8)
  • Oshawa - 9.2 (9.1)
  • Ottawa - 5.8 (5.9)
  • St. Catharines-Niagara - 10.4 (10.1)
  • Windsor - 13.5 (13.7)

With files from The Canadian Press