Canada's labor market recovery hit a bump last month as creation of the new jobs required to help the country emerge from recession stalled.

Rate of unemployment in Canada stood steady at 8.5 per cent in December as 2600 jobs were lost last month following November's good performance, which saw hefty gains of 79,000 jobs.

Figures showed that Ontario kept on giving bad performance, with the jobless rate at 9.3 per cent, the same as the last month. Ontario lost 171,000 jobs since the beginning of recession, with 17,000 job-losses in December alone.

Rate of unemployment in Toronto stuck at 9.5 per cent in a row.

Last month's unemployment data disappointed the federal government which injected billions of dollars into the economy to fight back recession.

Commenting on the issue, Prime Minister Stephen Harper said, "Obviously we're disappointed that employment is down slightly."

Labor markets in the US also stalled in December. The US suffered a loss of 85,000 jobs during last month, against a flat reading anticipated.

Latest figures showed that recovery from recession will be slow and gradual.