OTTAWA, April 5 (Xinhua) -- Canada lost 7,200 jobs in March while its unemployment rate remained unchanged at 5.8 percent after increases in January and February, according to Statistics Canada on Friday.

The March loss came after an increase of 66,800 jobs in January and 55,900 in February, which was the country's best two-month start in a year since 1981.

The number of positions in the private sector fell by 17,300 in March while public-employee jobs increased by 4,200 and self-employed occupations rose by 6,000.

Year-over-year average hourly wage growth in March was 2.4 percent, up from 2.3 percent in February.