Canada PM cautious on big job gains, warns of "bumps" ahead

Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper warned on Friday against too much enthusiasm over December's strong job figures and said Canadians should expect the economy to experience more "bumps" in the future.

The economy added 39,800 jobs in December, according to Statistics Canada on Friday in the third surprisingly strong report on the labor market in the past four months.

"I always tell people not to read too much into a single monthly number even though its a very good number this month. It's very good in all dimensions actually, the underlying numbers are in essence even better," Harper told reporters following an announcement at an auto plant in Oakville, Ontario.

"We can't be surprised if we will continue to have some bumps along the road," he added, citing troubles in the U.S. and European economies.

(Reporting by Cameron French; Writing by Louise Egan)