TORONTO (AP) -- Job gains in Canada and job losses in the U.S. in the last month have brought the unemployment rates of both countries on a par for the first time in more than 26 years.Statistics Canada said Friday that Canada's unemployment rate remained steady at 6.1 percent as 15,200 jobs were created in August. The United States' jobless rate hit a five-year high of 6.1 percent after employers slashed 84,000 jobs.
It is the first time since February 1982, before recession hit both countries, that the official U.S. unemployment rate has not been higher than Canada.
However, economists have pointed out that different methods of counting the jobless likely cause the U.S. rate to be understated by at least half a percentage point compared with Canada.
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