Canada added 21,000 jobs in September with a high employment rate for core-aged parents, Statistics Canada said on Friday.

After dropping in August, employment was little changed in September with both full-time and part-time work holding steady, the national statistical agency said, adding that compared with May 2022, when employment last increased, there were 92,000 fewer people working in September.

According to the agency, with most Covid-19-related public health measures lifted and as parents and children started to settle back into the school routine in September, the employment rate of core-aged mothers with at least one child under 18 was 79.9 percent, its highest level for September since 1976, and up 2.1 percentage points compared with September 2019.

The employment rate of fathers in the same age group was 93.5 percent, the highest level for the month of September since 1981, the agency said.

Despite their record-high employment rate, women were more likely than men to have taken career or job-related decisions that prioritized childcare responsibilities.

According to figures from the Labour Force Survey for the week of Sept. 11-17, 14.9 percent of core-aged mothers with a child under 16 were twice as likely to have decided not to apply for a job or a promotion over the previous 12 months than their male counterparts (7.1 percent).

In addition, 7.6 percent of mothers turned down a job offer over the previous year due to childcare responsibilities, compared with 4 percent of fathers. (PNA)