Canada's jobless rate rose from 6.3 percent in November to 6.6 percent in December, after 34,000 jobs were lost during the last month of 2008, Statistics Canada reported on Friday.

Those numbers mark the second straight month that job losses have been recorded in the Canadian economy. In November, 71,000 jobs were lost, according to the agency.

The unemployment rate rise was much worse than expected, said Craig Alexander, deputy chief economist of TD Bank Financial Group.

More alarmingly, the majority of the losses are full-time jobs and were registered in Alberta and Ontario, which are suffering from the falling commodity prices and struggling manufacturing sector, he said.

But most economists believe Canada's jobless rate will stop short of 10 percent, and will come down as the economy recovers in the second half of 2009.

The jobless numbers pulled the Canadian dollar down by almost a full percent against the US dollar on Friday morning. The currency fell by 0.96 cents to 83.89 US cents.

The Toronto stock market also fell sharply, reacting to employment statistics in both Canada and the United States. The latter reported that it lost more than half a million jobs last month. Toronto's S&P/TSX composite index dropped 131.2 points to 9,090.4.

(Xinhua News Agency January 10, 2009)