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Ottawa-Gatineau's unemployment rate rose 0.3 percentage points in October, despite a small gain in job additions to the local economy, as more people joined the labour force during the month, according to Statistics Canada data released Friday.

The local jobless rate increased to 5.4 per cent, with the region giving up gains seen over the previous two months, the report showed. However, the news was mitigated by the fact that there was also a small gain of about 800 jobs, continuing an upward trend begun in May 2009.

The region also has the second-lowest unemployment rate in Eastern Canada, tied with Quebec City.

"Ottawa-Gatineau has added about 19,000 jobs since May, partially offsetting the consistent declines totalling 28,000 from December 2008 to May 2009," pointed out Statistics Canada analyst Vincent Ferrao.

Mr. Ferrao added that although the jump in the number of people in the labour force was the main reason for the rise in unemployment, it could also suggest increased optimism in the local labour market, since the movement follows several months of employment gains.

A similar pattern was seen across Canada, as part-time job losses pushed up the national unemployment rate 0.2 percentage points to 8.6 per cent. Overall employment fell by 43,000 jobs during the month, and is now down 2.3 per cent from the peak of October 2008.

While the retail and wholesale trade sector was one of the main drivers of employment losses nationwide, in Ottawa-Gatineau it was one of the only sectors to post a notable gain, Mr. Ferrao said, although he noted that local numbers are not seasonally adjusted.

The sector employed roughly 77,000 people in October, approximately 4,000 more than the moving average for the three months ended in September. Still, the retail and wholesale trade sector has lost about 16,000 jobs in the last 12 months, making it one of the biggest losers over the past year.

Another sector to be significantly affected on both a month-over-month and a year-over-year basis was high tech, which lost 1,100 jobs between September and October to end up with 50,800. High-tech employers have also shed about 5,100 jobs since October 2008, Mr. Ferrao said.

In other industries, however, there were no significant 12-month job losses, and in fact, several sectors reported strong gains. Among them was the ever-booming public administration sector, which added 11,000 jobs to employ 161,200 people in October, as well as the professional, scientific and technical services sector, which grew to 68,500 from 59,400 a year earlier.

As well, the finance, insurance, real estate and leasing segment also added 7,700 jobs on the recent strength in real estate activity, boosting employment to 38,800.