Canadian Payroll Employment Rises in January

On Thursday, Statistics Canada (StatCan) reported that payroll employment rose 0.2% in January, a gain of 45,600 jobs. The increase partially reversed a decline of 0.1% (10,600 jobs) recorded in December 2025. Year-over-year, payroll employment was up 0.2%.

Payroll employment increased in 9 of the 20 sectors. Educational services rose 1.4%, adding 20,000 positions; construction increased 0.7% (+8,100); finance and insurance grew 0.8% (+6,600); and health care and social assistance edged up 0.1% (+3,700).

These gains were partly offset by declines elsewhere, led by retail trade, which shed 6,600 positions.

Job vacancies were little changed at 492,400 in January, following a 4.9% increase (+23,700) in December. Year-over-year, vacancies were down 6.7%, a decline of 35,100.

There were 3.0 unemployed persons for every job vacancy, down from 3.1 in December and below the recent peak of 3.3 in August 2025. The decrease from August to January was the result of a decline in the number of unemployed persons, coupled with little variation in the number of job vacancies.