The Canadian labour market added 58,200 jobs in April, mostly in full-time work. It’s the biggest two-month gain since early 1981.

However, Statistics Canada said that because even more people were looking for work in April, the unemployment rate edged up 0.1 percentage points to 7.3 per cent.

Statistics Canada the news jobs were in most goods-producing industries and in most provinces.

The big gains, following a stunning 82,000 increase in jobs in March, changes the picture for Canada’s labour market, which until two months ago had been mostly stagnant since the summer.

The details in the April jobs report were even stronger than the headline, with all the new workers coming in the employee category rather than self-employment. They were also mostly in the private sector and mostly full time.

The agency said employment rose in manufacturing, construction, natural resources and agriculture, as well as the education sector. And, unlike in March, when most of the new jobs were concentrated in Central Canada, this time the winners included the Atlantic region, Quebec and the West.

The April gains brought the number of jobs created over the past year to 214,000, all in the full-time work category.