The Globe and Mail reports in its Saturday edition that Canadian employers went on a hiring blitz to start the summer and the jobless rate unexpectedly dropped in June, despite challenges posed by the country's trade war with the United States. The Globe's Vanmala Subramaniam writes that Statistics Canada's Labour Force Survey for June showed the economy added more than 83,000 jobs last month, with 70,000 of those positions concentrated in part-time work. The unemployment rate ticked down to 6.9 per cent from 7 per cent in May. The results came as a surprise to economists, who were expecting the jobless rate to increase to 7.1 per cent. This was the largest increase in employment in six months. The gains came mainly from the wholesale and retail trade sectors, which added 34,000 jobs, as well as health care and social assistance, which generated 17,000 positions in June. Toronto-Dominion Bank's senior economist Leslie Preston cautioned that despite the labour market bucking its weakening trend, Mr. Trump's new tariff threats show that uncertainty persists for Canadian businesses. "We think a strong argument for further rate cuts remains in Canada; we'll soon see if the BoC agrees," Ms. Preston said in a Friday note.