Canadian Employment Increases and Unemployment Declines in June

On Friday, Statistics Canada (StatCan) released the results of its Labor Force Survey for June.

Canadian employment rose by 0.4% in June, with a net gain of 83,000 jobs—the first monthly increase since January. Most of the growth came from part-time employment, which added 70,000 positions.

Job gains were recorded in wholesale and retail trade (+1.1% or 34,000 jobs) and in health care and social assistance (+0.6% or 17,000 jobs). These were partially offset by a decline in agricultural employment, which fell by 2.6% or 6,000 jobs. Employment was little changed in most other sectors.

Regionally, employment increased in Alberta, Quebec, Ontario, and Manitoba, while declining in Newfoundland and Labrador and Nova Scotia.

The unemployment rate edged down 0.1 percentage points to 6.9% in June, marking its first decline since January. Prior to this, the rate had risen for three consecutive months, reaching 7.0% in May—the highest level since September 2016, excluding the pandemic years of 2020 and 2021.

The number of unemployed people held steady at 1.6 million in June but was up 9.0% (or 128,000 people) compared with June 2024.

Long-term unemployment also increased year-over-year. In June, 21.8% of unemployed individuals had been searching for work for 27 weeks or more, up from 17.7% a year earlier.