Canadian Employment and Unemployment Changes Modestly in November

Statistics Canada (StatCan) reported on Friday (12-1-23) that nationwide employment was little changed in November, with 25,000, or 0.1%, new jobs created. This is the second consecutive month of little change in overall employment.

According to the Labor Force Survey (LFS), the employment rate—the proportion of the working-age population that is employed—declined 0.1 percentage points to 61.8% in the month of November, while the population aged 15 and older grew by 78,000, or 0.2%. StatCan also points out that the employment rate in Canada has decreased in four of the past five months and has generally trended lower since January, when it reached a high of 62.5%.

In November, construction employment increased by 16,000, or 1.0%, building on an increase of 23,000, or 1.5%, in October. While employment fell in construction through the spring and summer, gains in October and November brought employment levels in the construction sector within 15,000 of the peak reached in January.

The unemployment rate in Canada increased 0.1 percentage points to 5.8% in November, bring the cumulative increase since April to 0.8 percentage points.