Statistics Canada says 230,700 jobs were added in the month of June, almost all part-time.

As pandemic restrictions began to ease across most of Canada, it’s a significant change from April and May, which both saw significant job losses.

The number of full-time positions fell however, by about 33,200.

Most of the job gains were in the retail and food sector as restrictions that heavily affected those sectors began to be remove.

Youth workers also made up a large part of that.

The unemployment rate fell to 7.8 per cent in June, compared with 8.2 per cent in May, which was the lowest of the pandemic since the 7.5 per cent recorded in April.

Jobless rates last month in Saskatchewan’s two biggest cities were in Regina 6.8 per cent (7.5) Saskatoon 7.3 per cent (7.4).

The result for June left Canada about 340,000 jobs below pre-pandemic employment levels seen in February, 2020.