UPDATE 1-Canada November job gains beat expectations

Statistics Canada reported on Friday a net employment gain of 79,000 in November, beating analysts expectations of a 15,000 gain. The unemployment rate edged lower to 8.5 percent from 8.6 percent in October.

It's all good. Obviously the headline was a shocker. Some of it came in the part-time and it was a bit of a bounce from the previous month. But most of the details were supportive, said Mark Chandler, head of fixed-income and currency strategy at RBC Capital Markets.

Full-time employment increased by 39,000 and some 40,000 were added to part-time payrolls.

The job market was strongest in the services sector, with the largest growth in education, but employment changed little.

In general the unemployment rate obviously fell as well and wages were a little bit softer, not quite as strong as the headline would suggest, but still very, very decent, said Chandler.

Compared with a year ago, average hourly wages in November were up 2.3 percent, the lowest year-over-year growth since March 2007.