The Canadian economy added 22,000 jobs in February.

Statistics Canada’s latest labour force report says the country’s unemployment rate held steady at five-percent last month, hovering near record lows.

In February, the gap between wage growth and inflation narrowed, with average hourly wages up 5.4 per cent compared with a year ago.

The Bank of Canada, which is working to bring down the country’s high inflation rate, has raised concerns that sustained four to five per cent wage growth will make it harder to return to its two per cent inflation target.

Stateside, America’s employers added a substantial 311,000 jobs last month, fewer than January’s huge gain but easily enough to keep pressure on the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates aggressively to fight inflation.

The unemployment rate rose to 3.6-percent from a 53-year low of 3.4-percent.