Canada's employment increased by 150,000 in January and the unemployment rate held steady at 5 percent, Statistics Canada said.

Employment gains were driven primarily by people aged between 25 to 54 years, split evenly between women and men in this group, the national statistical agency said on Friday, adding that employment also increased among people aged 55 years and above, while it was little changed among youth aged between 15 to 24 years.

There were gains across several industries, led by wholesale and retail trade, health care and social assistance, and educational services. At the same time, employment declined in transportation and warehousing, the agency said.

According to the agency, total hours worked rose 0.8 percent in January and were up 5.6 percent on a year-over-year basis. The proportion of employees absent due to illness or disability was 7.1 percent during the reference week. This was below the record-high 10 percent observed in January 2022 and on par with a typical January, Xinhua news agency reported.

The unemployment rate in January was just shy of the record-low 4.9 percent observed in June and July 2022. The total number of unemployed people stood at 1 million, similar to the level observed since the summer of 2022, the agency added.

The majority, or 63.9 percent of unemployed people in January, had been unemployed for a relatively short amount of time, between one and 13 weeks. Long-term unemployment, the proportion of the unemployed who had been out of work continuously unemployed for 27 weeks or more, was 15.8 percent, down from 19.9 percent in January 2022, Statistics Canada said. (KB/IANS)