Canada gained over 50,000 jobs in February, far surpassing predictions from most economists who had been expecting much more modest growth of less than 10,000 new jobs.

Despite the surprising gains in employment, according to Statistics Canada, the overall national unemployment rate remains at 7.0%. This is because more people entered the workforce and began looking for work. That in itself is also a good news story – it is an indication that Canadians are feeling more hopeful about the job market.

These job increases follow on the heels of January's disappointing labour report. The Canadian economy shed 22,000 jobs in the first month of this year. However February may be a return to form as Canada ended 2012 with several months of solid job creation. A 7.0% unemployment rate is still the lowest this country has seen since 2009.

Compared with February of last year, employment in Canada is up by nearly 2% or 336,000 mostly full-time jobs.

Employment in Ontario increased by 35,000 jobs in February, led by gains among younger workers. However, the Ontario unemployment rate remained unchanged at 7.7% as more people started looking for work.

British Columbia also saw solid gains, adding 20,000 new jobs in last month. That provinces unemployment rate remains similarly unchanged at 6.3%.

Employment was also up in Nova Scotia with addition of 3,000 new jobs, bringing the unemployment rate to 9.3%. In New Brunswick, the number of workers increased by almost as much, with 2,900 more jobs added. This lowered that province's unemployment rate to 10.1%.

Employment in Manitoba declined by 3,200 jobs in February; while the unemployment rate remained at 4.9%.

The Quebec unemployment rate rose slightly to to 7.4% last month. Compared with 12 months earlier, employment in the province increased by 2.9%.

At 3.8%, Saskatchewan continues to have the lowest unemployment rate of all the provinces.

Employment in professional, scientific and technical services rose by 26,000 jobs last month, returning to levels last seen one year ago. Employment was also up in accommodation and food services, with gains of 21,000 jobs in February.

Public administration employment rose for the second month in a row, gaining 16,000 jobs. In agriculture, employment increased by 7,300 in February.

- Peter Harris
Peter Harris on Twitter