Canadian Employment Declines and Unemployment Rises in March

On Friday, Statistics Canada (StatCan) reported that employment declined by 33,000, or 0.2%, in March, the first decrease since January 2022.

The decline follows little change in February and three consecutive months of growth in November, December, and January totaling 211,000, or up 1.0%. The drop in March was driven by full-time work—down 62,000, or 0.4%. Full-time employment had followed a strong upward trend in the second half of 2024 and held steady in January and February.

Private/Public Employment

Private sector employment fell by 48,000, or 0.3%, in March, following little change in February and a cumulative increase of 97,000, or 0.7%, from November 2024 to January. Year-over-year, the number of employees in the private sector was up by 175,000, or 1.3%.

Public sector employment was little changed for a third consecutive month and was up 92,000, or 2.1%, compared with a year earlier. Self-employment was also little changed in March and was up 81,000, or 3.0%, year-over-year.

Unemployment Rate

The unemployment rate rose 0.1 percentage points to 6.7% in March, the first increase since November 2024. In total, there were 1.5 million unemployed Canadians in March, up 36,000 (2.5%) and up 167,000 (12.4%) year-over-year.