Canadian Construction Employment Falls Again in July
Construction employment and job vacancies continue to slide
Statistics Canada (StatCan) reported that payroll employment in Canada’s construction sector fell by 2,200 jobs in July, a 0.2% decline. The decrease followed a 0.3% drop in June, when the sector shed 3,700 positions. Compared with its recent peak in December 2024, construction payrolls were down by 13,700 jobs, or just over 1.0%.
The July decline was led by specialty trade contractors (-7,000), residential building construction (-5,500), and building equipment contractors (-2,800). Year-over-year, construction payroll employment was down by 3,000 positions.
Job vacancies in the construction sector also weakened. Vacancies dropped by 5,600 in July from June to 33,800, a 14.3% month-over-month decline. Vacancies were down 11,200 positions, or 24.9%, compared with July 2024, and down 62.0% from the April 2022 peak of 89,000.
The construction job vacancy rate fell 0.4 percentage points to 2.8% in July, the lowest since October 2017. The rate was 0.9 percentage points lower than a year earlier.
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