OTTAWA: Canada added far more jobs than expected in March, while the unemployment rate dropped to its lowest point since before the pandemic, Statistics Canada data showed on Friday.

Driven by the continued recovery across sectors hit by January shutdowns, Canada added 303,100 jobs in March, triple analyst expectations of 100,000. The unemployment rate fell to 7.5%, beating an expected 8.0%.

Employment in the goods-producing sector increased by 43,200 jobs, while service sector jobs rose by 260,000. Part-time employment rose by 128,000, with 175,000 new full-time positions.

"Clearly the economy was much more open than many believed and I do think the very mild weather contributed to this very robust comeback," said Doug Porter, chief economist at BMO Capital Markets.

Employment remains 1.5% below pre-pandemic levels, with 296,000 people who were employed in February 2020 still not back working.

The Canadian dollar was trading nearly unchanged at 1.2559 to the US dollar, or 79.62 US cents, having clawed back its earlier decline.