OTTAWA  - Canada posted unexpectedly strong jobs and trade numbers on Friday, a sign its sputtering economy might finally be recovering after two years of pain caused by lower crude oil prices.

Statistics Canada said 53,700 net new jobs were added in December, all of them full time, after shedding 31,800 positions over the two previous months. Analysts in a Reuters poll had expected no gains for the month.

“Yes, this jobs report can be classified as a straight A student,” said BMO Capital Markets Chief Economist Doug Porter in a note to clients that declared the data a “rock-em-sock-em” jobs report.

Canada recorded a November trade surplus of $526 million, the first in more than two years, according to the government, as exports jumped and imports posted a modest gain.

The data will provide some comfort to the Bank of Canada, which cut interest rates twice in 2015 to help counter the damage inflicted by low oil prices, and last month pointed to a "significant" amount of slack still remaining in the economy.

Full-time employment jumped by 81,300 jobs, the largest month-on-month gain since March 2012, while part-time employment dropped by 27,600. The jobless rate rose to 6.9 per cent from 6.8 percent in November as more people sought work.

In the 12 months to December, the number of people employed grew by 214,100, or 1.2 per cent. The six-month average for employment growth was 28,000 jobs, up from 19,300 in November.

"Certainly the Bank's going to take some comfort from that ... with these employment gains there will be no pressure to cut rates and we'll see whether this hiring starts encouraging stronger expenditure," said Paul Ferley, assistant chief economist at Royal Bank of Canada.

The Canadian dollar jumped on the data, hitting $1.3198 to the U.S. dollar, or 75.77 U.S. cents, up from $1.3268, or 75.37 U.S. cents, before the report's release.

The trade figures were also a pleasant surprise for analysts who had forecast a deficit of $1.60 billion. The surplus was the first since September 2014.

"That's something the Bank of Canada I think will be very pleased with ... (it) signals strength in the manufacturing sector in December," said Jimmy Jean, an economic strategist at Desjardins.

Exports increased by 4.3 per cent, the most since June 2015, on higher shipments of metal and non-metallic products as well as record exports to countries other than the United States. ($1

Analysts in a Reuters poll had forecast no change in employment. The jobless rate rose to 6.9 per cent from 6.8 per cent in November.

- With files from BNN.ca