Canadian Employment and Unemployment Both Increase in November

On Friday, Statistics Canada (StatCan) reported that Canadian employment increased 0.2%, or 51,000 jobs, in November. The employment rate held steady at 60.6%.

Gains in employment in November include the following:

• Employment in the wholesale and retail trade increased 1.3%, or 39,000 positions—the second increase in three months.
• In construction, employment rose 1.2%, or 18,000 jobs, following five consecutive months of little change.
• Employment rose in professional, scientific, and technical services increased 0.9%, or 17,000 jobs, marking the second increase in three months. Year-over-year, employment in the industry was up 3.8%, or 72,000 jobs.

Those increases were offset by the following losses:

• Manufacturing shed 29,000 jobs, down 1.6%. This follows eight consecutive months of little change.
• Employment in transportation and warehousing declined 1.7%, or 19,000 jobs.

Unemployment

The unemployment rate increased 0.3 percentage points to 6.8% in November, the highest since January 2017 (excluding 2020 and 2021 during the pandemic). The unemployment rate has trended up since April 2023, rising 1.7 percentage points over the period.

The number of unemployed people—those looking for work or on temporary layoff—increased 6.1%, or 87,000, bringing the total number of unemployed persons to 1.5 million. Year-over-year, the number of unemployed people was up by 22.2%, or 276,000.