Canadian manufacturing lost 13,000 jobs in June, with the ailing sector losing some 30,000 jobs over the past year, according to Statistics Canada’s latest monthly jobs report.

Canada’s unemployment rate fell by 0.1 percentage points in June to 6.8 per cent — even though the economy lost 700 jobs. That’s because fewer Canadians were looking for work, according to Friday’s Labour Force Survey.

Employment in the construction sector, an important seasonal driver this time of year, fell by some 29,000 jobs, following a gain in May.

“Unfortunately, the two biggest decliners in June also happen to be arguably the two most important cyclical sectors — construction and manufacturing,” noted BMO chief economist Douglas Porter.

“Manufacturing remains a big disappointment, and the recent softness there lines up well with the sag in non-energy exports.”

Earlier this week, the latest trade data from May showed exports fell by 0.7 per cent and the economy posted a $3.3 billion trade deficit, the second largest on record.

“Employment in the manufacturing industry has been on a downward trend since the beginning of 2016,” StatsCan noted.

That’s a problem because many economists, including those at the Bank of Canada, have been banking on a realignment of the economy, away from the battered oil sector toward strength in manufacturing exports.