Canadian Employment Falls by 4,700 in October; Unemployment at 6.7%

On Friday, Statistics Canada (StatCan) reported that Canadian employment edged down by 4,700 jobs (0.0%) in October, following declines of 68,000 jobs (0.3%) in September and 42,000 (0.2%) in August.

The employment rate fell 0.1 percentage points to 60.5%, marking its third consecutive monthly decline. Year-over-year, employment was little changed, increasing by 17,000 jobs (0.1%), while the employment rate declined 0.3 percentage points.

Employment fell in wholesale and retail trade, down 29,000 jobs (1.0%). These losses were partly offset by gains in construction, which added 16,000 positions (0.9%), and educational services, which increased by 15,000 (1.0%).

Unemployment

The unemployment rate rose 0.2 percentage points to 6.7% in October, marking the second consecutive monthly increase. The number of unemployed people increased by 33,000 (2.2%) to approximately 1.5 million.

Year-over-year, the unemployment rate was down 0.2 percentage points and remained below the recent peak of 6.9% recorded in April.

Just 18.9% of those unemployed in September found work in October, compared with 19.8% a year earlier and the 2017–19 average of 24.6%.