Ottawa, Jul 7 (IANS): Canada's jobless rate fell slightly in June as fewer people were looking for work, Statistics Canada reported.

The country's national data collection and analysis agency said Friday that Canada's unemployment rate edged down 0.1 percentage points from 7.3 percent in May to 7.2 percent last month, as employers added 7,300 net jobs, reported Xinhua.

However, the number of active job seekers dropped by 16,600, which cut the size of the overall labour force.

The two consecutive months of flat job growth follows a record high two-month employment gain when 140,200 jobs were added in March and April.

Canada's virtually unchanged unemployment rate mirrored the trend in the US where the unemployment rate remained at 8.2 percent in June, the US Bureau of Statistics reported Friday.

Among those most affected by sluggish employment growth were students searching for summer jobs in Canada, the world's 10th largest economy.

The employment rate among those aged 20-24 was 63.2 percent in June 2012 - a decrease from the 67.4 percent rate recorded in June 2011 - which matched the rate observed in June 2009 when student employment was hit hard by the labour market downturn.

This is the lowest June employment rate since comparable data became available in 1977, according to Statistics Canada.