By The Canadian Press

OTTAWA – Statistics Canada says the economy began creating jobs again in December after two straight months of declines, but not enough to prevent the official unemployment rate from edging up a notch to 7.5 per cent.

Canada added 17,500 jobs during the month, yet the jobless rate increased because there were more people actively looking for work.

In an anomaly, every province in Canada saw a slight increase in employment except Quebec, where losses in the construction and health care and social assistance sector contributed to a decline of 25,700 jobs.

While the overall pickup nationally ends the year on a positive note, there was little to cheer in the report.

The gains were all in part-time work and among self-employment workers, whereas December actually saw loss of 25,500 full-time jobs.

The agency says for the year, Canada added 199,000 jobs, almost all in the first six months of 2011.