Canada’s Employment Rate Holds Steady in April, While Unemployment Declines to New Record Low

Statistics Canada (StatsCan) reported today (5-6-22) its Labor Force Survey for April 2022. According to the report, employment in Canada was little changed in April. Previously, employment increased by 409,000 (2.1%) during February and March, following losses in January, the result of the fifth wave of COVID-19. The employment rate—the proportion of the population that is employed—held steady at 61.9%.

Increases in employment in professional, scientific, and technical services and public administration were offset by declines in construction and retail trade. There were more people working in the Atlantic region and Alberta, while employment fell in Quebec. At the national level, employment gains among core-aged women aged 25 to 54 were offset by a decrease among core-age men.

After reaching a record low of 5.3% in March, the unemployment rate edged down a further -0.1 percentage points to 5.2% in April. The adjusted unemployment rate—which includes people who wanted a job but did not look for one—was 7.2% in April, below the pre-pandemic level of 7.4%.

Long-term unemployment accounted for one-fifth (20.6%) of total unemployment in April. This remains elevated from the pre-pandemic level of 15.6% in February 2020. There were 224,000 people who had been continuously searching for work or on temporary layoff for 27 weeks or more in April 2022, mostly unchanged from March. Among them, two-thirds (66.3%; 149,000) had been unemployed for one year or more.