Canada’s jobless rate held steady last month. The economy created 21,600 jobs, leaving the unemployment rate steady at 6.9%.

The bad news is that most of the new jobs were part time.

Toronto’s unemployment rate actually increased to 8.2% from 8.0%.

South of the border, the news was very encouraging. The US economy created 203,000 jobs, sending the unemployment rate to a five-year low of 7.0%.

That may be a strong enough indication that the US economy is getting back on track that the Federal Reserve could announce this month that it will start reducing its $85-billion-a-month stimulus program.

Investors have been fretting about that for some time, but the news of the strong job creation gave stock markets an early lift this morning.