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OTTAWA: Canada's labour market shed jobs for the second time in three months in September, but the country's unemployment rate still managed to surprise by edging down a tenth of a point to eight per cent.

The tiny slide in the jobless rate was no indication of strength in the labour market, however.

Statistics Canada said it simply meant fewer Canadians, particularly young people, stopped looking for work.

While the job loss was also small, a statistically insignificant 6,600 jobs, it appears to confirm the economy, which had once been churning out jobs at a rate of over 50,000 a month during the first half of the year, has ground to a halt.

Statistics Canada says averaging the last three months, employment barely crawled forward by about 7,000 jobs a month on average, half of what analysts believe is needed just to keep up with population growth.

Young workers, those between 15 and 24 years of age, were the most noticeable victims of the slowdown, with employment in this category falling by 41,900, many in Ontario.

``There is no denying the fact that employment conditions have cooled markedly from the piping hot pace seen as recently as the spring,'' said Douglas Porter, deputy chief economist with BMO Capital Markets.

``Renewed solid job gains will be tough to come by in the months ahead amid the lacklustre pace of underlying growth that has spilled over from the U.S. into Canada.''

Porter took some solace in the underlying details of the report, which he said were not nearly as dire.

Most significant was that the number of full-time workers in Canada increased by 37,100, while part-timers dropped by 43,700.

As well, hours worked rose slightly and payroll employment rose, offsetting a decline in self-employment.

``With gains in actual hours worked and full-time positions registered in the month, the September report was somewhat better than that implied by the decline in the headline job count,'' said TD Bank's Derek Burleton.

Economists had been predicting a tepid jobs month, keeping with an economy that registered the first monthly contraction this summer in almost a year. But they were looking for a modest 10,000 pick-up, and the unemployment rate to stay put at 8.1 per cent.

The biggest losses came in Ontario, where there were almost 23,000 fewer people working in September than the previous month, all in the services sector.

There were minor gains in the key industries of manufacturing and construction, but employment in professional, scientific and technical services fell by about 32,000.

The largest gains came in transportation and warehousing, which reported an increase of 15,000.

Regionally, Ontario, New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island all registered contraction.

Quebec, however, saw employment rise by 15,200 and its jobless rate fall half-a-point to 7.7. Newfoundland also saw its employment picture improve, gaining 4,900 jobs, which shaved its jobless rate a similar amount to 13.5 per cent.