Canadian Payroll Employment Falls in March

On Thursday, Statistics Canada (StatCan) reported that payroll employment fell 0.2% in March, a decline of 31,800 jobs. The decrease brought the cumulative decline since February to 0.4% (69,900 jobs). However, year-over-year, payroll employment was up 0.1%, or 23,700 jobs.

Payroll employment decreased across several sectors in March. Accommodation and food services fell 0.5%, or 7,000 jobs; retail trade declined 0.2%, or 5,900; construction fell 0.3%, or 3,600; other services (except public administration) decreased 0.4%, or 2,500; and real estate and rental leasing declined 0.7%, or 1,900.

Two sectors posted gains in March: Public administration rose 0.3%, adding 4,300 jobs, while management of companies and enterprises increased 0.8%, contributing 900 positions.

Job vacancies held steady at 500,300 in March. Year-over-year, vacancies were down 3.2%, or 16,500 positions. This was the smallest year-over-year decline since September 2019 and substantially less severe than the 13.7% decline recorded from March 2024 to March 2025.

The job vacancy rate was unchanged at 2.8% in March, down 0.1 percentage points from 2.9% a year earlier. There were 3.0 unemployed persons for every job vacancy in March, down from 3.1 in February and unchanged from a year earlier.