Canadian Employment Dips but Unemployment Rate Holds Steady in July

On Friday, Statistics Canada (StatCan) reported that Canadian employment fell by 41,000 jobs (0.2%) in July, partially offsetting June’s gain of 83,000 jobs (0.4%). The decline was concentrated in full-time work, which dropped by 51,000 jobs (0.3%).

Overall, employment has shown little net growth since the start of the year. In July, the number of employed people was up just 27,000 (0.1%) compared with January.

The unemployment rate held steady at 6.9% in July, as the number of people searching for work or on temporary layoff changed little from June. The rate had trended higher earlier in 2025, rising from 6.6% in February to a recent peak of 7.0% in May before edging down by 0.1 percentage point in June.

StatCan said unemployed Canadians continued to face difficulties finding work. Of the 1.6 million people unemployed in July, 23.8% were in long-term unemployment (defined as searching for work for 27 weeks or more), the highest share since February 1998, excluding the COVID-19 years of 2020 and 2021.