OTTAWA — Canada hasn't recouped all the jobs lost during the recession after all, Statistics Canada said Friday in a blow to the federal government's boast about the strength of the recovery.

The official statistical agency now says Canada lost more jobs during the 2008-09 recession than previously reported, and has created fewer jobs so far into the recovery.

The revision means there were still 30,000 fewer Canadians working as of December -- the last month for which there is data -- than was the case in October 2008 when the slump hit Canada's shores.

Canada's employment growth has been one of the strongest in the advanced world, surpassing all expectations and even the rate of growth in the economy.

"Most of us were shaking hour heads in disbelief early last year with the size of the employment growth," said Douglas Porter, deputy chief economist of BMO Capital Markets.

"Most of us thought it was too good to be true and it turns out it was too good to be true."

Previously, the agency had estimated 465,000 were created since the bottom hit in July 2009, more than the 417,000 lost during the slump.

But Porter and other economists caution that Canada's jobs growth, even after the revision, has still been strong and far better than what has occurred in the United States.

The new numbers show there were 428,000 jobs lost during the downturn and to date, 398,000 created in the recovery.

Under the previous record, Canada was supposed to have returned to pre-slump employment levels back in August.

But the revision eliminates, for now, a key talking point Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Finance Minister Jim Flaherty have repeatedly used to fend off opposition attacks on their handling of the economy.

Harper and Flaherty have stressed the point that Canada is the only country in the G7 to have recovered all the jobs it had lost.

In an email response from Davos, Switzerland, Flaherty stressed that Canada's employment growth remains the strongest in the G7, and that the revisions do not effect the unemployment rate, which remained at 7.6 per cent.

"We know that there are still too many people looking for work. Our government is working on their behalf to create jobs and economic growth across Canada," Flaherty said.

Statistics Canada annually reviews its employment data, as well as other indicators, and has often revised previously reported numbers.

The latest revision, the agency said, came about because Statistics Canada switched from using 2001 census to 2006 census numbers, which had the effect of lowering population estimates and workforce size by about 0.3 per cent.

That means that there are almost 100,000 fewer Canadians in the workforce, and about 13,000 fewer officially unemployed.

CIBC economist Avery Shenfeld said Canadians should still have confidence in the agency to accurately measure economic indicators.

"The same process has to take place in virtually every statistical agency, including the U.S., and historically Statistics Canada has actually a better track record," Shenfeld said.