The Globe and Mail reports in its Saturday edition that the Canadian economy started the year with a flurry of new jobs, but the underlying details were decidedly mixed, with hiring concentrated in the public sector and in part-time work. The Globe's Matt Lundy writes that employment rose by 37,300 in January and the unemployment rate fell a tick to 5.7 per cent, the first decline in just over a year, Statistics Canada said Friday. Financial analysts were expecting an increase of 15,000 jobs last month, after a tepid gain in December. Despite the lower unemployment rate, the employment rate has also fallen for four consecutive months, because job growth is not close to offsetting a surge in population. Over the past year, employment has risen by 345,000, while the population aged 15-plus has jumped by one million. In large part, the unemployment rate managed to fall in January because a smaller proportion of people were participating in the labour market. While there were negative aspects to Friday's report, analysts said the Bank of Canada is unlikely to lower interest rates before June, given rising employment and hot wage growth. Desjardins says a BOC rate cut is now more likely to be in June at the earliest.