Statistics Canada says the economy added nearly one million jobs in June as businesses forced closed by the pandemic moved to reopen.
The agency says 953,000 jobs were added last month including 488,000 full-time and 465,000 part-time positions.
The unemployment rate fell to 12.3 per cent in June after hitting a record-high of 13.7 per cent in May.
The average economist estimate for June had been for an addition of 700,000 jobs and the unemployment rate to fall to 12.0 per cent, according to financial data firm Refinitiv