Canada adds 75,000 jobs in July

Canada's labour market added 75,000 jobs in July, pushing the unemployment rate down to its lowest point in two years, according to Statistics Canada's Labour Force Survey.

The unemployment rate fell 0.1 percentage points to 6.4% in July — the third consecutive monthly decline and the lowest rate recorded since July 2024, Statistics Canada reported.

The employment rate, measuring the share of Canadians aged 15 and older who are working, ticked up 0.1 percentage points to 60.9%, a gain of 0.2 percentage points compared with a year earlier.

"While July’s report is overwhelmingly positive, the overall trend still looks a lot more like stabilization from last year’s softness rather than true acceleration," says Laura Ulrich, director of economic research at Indeed.

"But three straight months moving in the right direction is exactly how turning points begin — and if the breadth we saw in July holds into the fall, stabilization could quietly become the momentum Canada has been waiting for."

Since April, jobs in Canada have increased by 181,000 and the unemployment rate fell by half a percentage point, declining for three consecutive months, she says. "One month of positive data can be noise, but three months in a row starts to look more like a trend."

Three months of steady momentum

July's gains continued a hiring trend that has quietly built since spring. Since April, total employment has risen by 181,000, or 0.9%, according to Statistics Canada, with the recovery driven mainly by full-time work, which was up 193,000 over that period.

The unemployment rate has fallen by half a percentage point since April and is now down 0.5 percentage points on a year-over-year basis.

More of those searching for work are finding it. Statistics Canada reported that the job-finding rate — the share of unemployed people who found work between June and July — was 20.8% in July, up from 18.5% for the same period a year earlier. That figure, however, remains well below the pre-pandemic average of 26.6% recorded for the same period from 2017 to 2019.

Women drive employment gains

The clearest signal in the July data came from core-aged women. Employment among women aged 25 to 54 rose by 33,000, or 0.5%, and their unemployment rate fell 0.3 percentage points to 5.2%, according to Statistics Canada.

The employment rate for that group rose to 81.2% — above the pre-pandemic average of 79.1% observed from 2017 to 2019, and up 1.1 percentage points from a year earlier.

Employment among core-aged men edged up 18,000, or 0.2%, with their unemployment rate holding steady at 5.8% and their employment rate essentially flat at 86.5% — in line with both last month and the pre-pandemic average of 86.4%.

Youth unemployment holds, but racial gaps persist

The youth unemployment rate was virtually unchanged in July at 12.6%, down from a recent peak of 14.3% in April and 1.9 percentage points lower than a year ago, Statistics Canada reported. Despite those improvements, the rate remains above the pre-pandemic average of 10.8%.

The aggregate figure, however, masks sharp disparities among racialized youth. Statistics Canada reported that among the three largest racialized groups, Black youth faced the highest unemployment rate at 22.6% in July 2026 — little changed from 23.4% in July 2025 and 23.3% in July 2024. By contrast, unemployment among Chinese youth fell 5.1 percentage points to 15.4%, and among South Asian youth it dropped 3.2 percentage points to 13.9%.

Returning students — those who attended school full time in March and plan to return in the fall — fared somewhat better than a year ago. The unemployment rate for returning students aged 15 to 24 was 15.1% in July, down 2.4 percentage points from 17.5% in July 2025, Statistics Canada reported. For returning students aged 20 to 24, the rate was 6.3% — the lowest for that group since July 2018.

Average hourly wages among employees rose 2.8% year over year in July to $37.17, according to Statistics Canada — an increase of $1.01. That marks a moderation from the 3.3% year-over-year wage growth recorded in June.

Industries and sectors

Wholesale and retail trade recorded the largest employment increase in July, adding 21,000 jobs, or 0.7%, according to Statistics Canada. Despite the monthly gain, employment in that sector remained down 50,000, or 1.7%, compared with a year earlier, continuing a downward trend that ran from January to May 2026.

Finance, insurance, real estate, rental and leasing added 18,000 jobs, a gain of 1.2%. Professional, scientific and technical services rose by 17,000, or 0.8%, and construction added 16,000, or 1.0%.

Not all sectors gained ground. Public administration shed 15,000 jobs, a decline of 1.2%, while agriculture contracted by 9,600, or 4.3%, Statistics Canada reported.

The July gains were concentrated in the private sector. Private sector employment rose by 58,000, while self-employed workers added 44,000. Those gains were partially offset by a decline of 27,000 in public sector employment, according to Statistics Canada. Since April, private sector workers account for the bulk of net job creation, adding 146,000 positions, while self-employment has risen by 73,000.

Ontario leads provincial gains

Ontario accounted for the largest share of July's national employment increase, adding 52,000 jobs, or 0.6% — its third increase in four months, bringing a net gain of 119,000, or 1.5%, over that period, Statistics Canada reported. The province's unemployment rate fell 0.2 percentage points to 6.8% in July, the lowest since July 2024 and well below the recent peak of 7.9% recorded in December 2025.

British Columbia added 18,000 jobs, or 0.6%, continuing an upward trend since May. The province's unemployment rate fell to 6.2%, down from a recent high of 6.8% in May. Manitoba gained 5,900 jobs, its first monthly increase since March, pushing the unemployment rate down 0.4 percentage points to 5.0%. Nova Scotia added 4,600 jobs, a second consecutive monthly gain, with year-over-year employment up 2.4%.

Quebec employment was little changed in July and on a year-over-year basis, with the unemployment rate holding at 5.6%. In Alberta, employment was also little changed in July, though the province recorded the largest proportional year-over-year gain among the provinces — up 91,000 jobs, or 3.5% — while its unemployment rate held steady at 7.0%, down 0.9 percentage points from a year earlier.

Among the country's three largest cities, Vancouver's unemployment rate fell 0.6 percentage points to 6.0%. Toronto's rate was little changed at 6.7% — though it remains sharply lower than the 9.0% recorded in July 2025. Montreal's rate rose 0.7 percentage points to 6.6%, offsetting a similar-sized decline the previous month.