Canada's unemployment rate slipped to 6.1 per cent last month as 14,200 new jobs were added to the country's payrolls.

That's better than economists had expected. Analysts had forecast only 5,000 new jobs would be added. It's the sixth straight month that the economy has seen an increase in employment.  

Economists had also expected the jobless rate to remain at the 6.2 per cent rate seen in January.

The new jobless rate matched the 30-year low set three times in the last year.  

Manufacturing employment took a major hit in February, as more than 34,000 factory jobs disappeared. Much of that loss took place in Quebec.

"The recent strike by Canadian National Railway workers may have led some manufacturers and support industries to scale back production," Statistics Canada said.

Healthy job gains were recorded in the service sector, with finance, transportation and health care leading the way. Construction also had a good month, despite February's drop in housing starts.

The better-than-expected jobs report, combined with record export figures also released Friday, gave a big boost to the Canadian dollar. The loonie was up almost two-thirds of a cent to 85.39 cents US in afternoon trading.

B.C., N.B. have record low jobless rates

Alberta led all provinces with 6,200 new jobs, but its jobless rate rose two-10ths of a percentage point to 3.5 per cent as more people entered its booming labour force. The province still has the country's lowest unemployment rate.

British Columbia's jobless rate hit a record low of four per cent last month. New Brunswick's 6.9 per cent jobless rate also was an all-time low as the province added 2,500 jobs and its labour force shrank.

Newfoundland's jobless rate fell by 1.1 percentage points to 14.3 per cent.

The youth unemployment rate — 11 per cent — was a 17-year low, Statistics Canada said.

"While the headline gain won’t make many headlines, it's still an impressive result in the wake of the powerhouse job gains of the past five months (averaging 48,000 per month)," wrote BMO Capital Markets economist Doug Porter in a morning note.

"Accordingly, today's results should be seen as a sign that the labour market remains fundamentally strong," he said.