Canadian Employment Unchanged in December; Unemployment Steady at 5.8%

Statistics Canada (StatCan) reported on Friday (1-5-24) that employment was little changed in December. This follows an increase of 25,000, or 0.1%, in November and an increase of 18,000, or 0.1%, in October.

StatCan notes that employment growth slowed in the second half of 2023, averaging 23,000 new jobs per month compared to an average 48,000 new jobs per month during the first half of the year.

According to StatCan, the unemployment rate held steady at 5.8% in December. This follows increases in five of the last seven months. From April to November, the rate increased 0.8 percentage points.

In December, there were 1.2 million unemployed Canadian persons, an increase of 202,000, or 19.3%, compared with December 2022.