OTTAWA — Employment in transportation and warehousing rose for the second consecutive month — up 28,000 and 7.2 percent in July, the highest growth rate of all industries, reports Stats Canada.

Overall, Canada’s unemployment rate fell to 7.2 percent, its lowest since December 2008, from 7.4 percent last month.
However, Statscan notes that the drop had more to do with people exiting the labor market than to job creation.

Still, employment did increase in construction, transportation and warehousing as well as retail and wholesale trade.

And despite the strong Canadian loonie, employment in manufacturing edged up and still stands 22,000 jobs higher than the depressed levels of July 2010.

There were decreases in health care and social assistance; educational services; business, building and other support services; natural resources as well as agriculture.

The jobless rate now stands about two percentage points lower than that in the U.S.