(RTTNews) - The Canadian employment situation took an unexpected turn for worse in October, pushing the unemployment rate to 8.6 percent.

Following two months of moderate growth, Statistics Canada said Friday morning that employment decreased by 43,000 in October, all in part time. This drop pushed the unemployment rate up 0.2 percentage points to 8.6%.

Economists expected the unemployment rate to remain at 8.4%.

Compared with the peak of October 2008, employment is down 400,000 (-2.3%), with the bulk of the decline (-357,000) occurring during the first five months of the labor market downturn.

Part-time work dropped by 60,000 in October, the second consecutive month of large declines. At the same time, full-time employment increased slightly, adding to the large full-time gain from the previous month. Over the past 12 months, however, full-time employment has fallen at a faster rate (-2.7%) than part time (-0.7%).

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