The Canadian economy shed jobs in August following two months of increases and the jobless rate rose, largely due to falling government hiring, StatsCan reported Friday.

Employment fell by 52,000 last month, counteracting nearly all of the gains in July and pushing the unemployment rate up 0.2 points to six percent, according to the report.

The change was largely driven by the 80,000 decline in Ontario province from the prior month. Public sector employment fell by 38,000 or one percent, while hiring in the private sector was little changed.

The data also showed part-time work plunged 92,000 or 2.6 percent in the month - most of that in Ontario - while full-time employment was little changed.