Employment flat after two straight declines, while share of jobseekers stuck in long-term unemployment kept rising
Canada’s job market stalled in October, with employment essentially unchanged and the national unemployment rate rising for a second straight month as more people went looking for work, Statistics Canada reported Friday.
The economy shed a net 4,700 jobs in October, a change of 0.0%, following losses of 68,000 in September and 42,000 in August.
The unemployment rate climbed 0.2 percentage points to 6.7%, as the number of people searching for work rose by 33,000 (+2.2%). The employment rate — the share of Canadians aged 15 and older who have a job — slipped 0.1 points to 60.5%, its third consecutive monthly decline.
Over the past year, the picture is one of stagnation rather than collapse. Employment is up just 17,000 (+0.1%) from October 2025, while the employment rate has fallen 0.3 points. The unemployment rate is 0.2 points lower than a year ago and remains below the recent peak of 6.9% reached in April 2026.
Private employers pull back
Beneath the flat headline number, the mix of jobs shifted sharply. Private sector employees fell by 53,000 (−0.4%), the first decline since February, Statistics Canada reported.
That was almost entirely offset by a 50,000 (+1.1%) increase in public sector employees, which came after four straight monthly declines that had removed 148,000 public sector positions (−3.2%).
Year over year, public sector employment is still down 70,000 (−1.5%), while the private sector is up a modest 35,000 (+0.3%). Self-employment was little changed in October but is up 52,000 (+1.9%) from a year earlier.
Average hourly wages for employees rose 2.2% year over year to $37.89 in October, an increase of $0.83, after 2.3% growth in September (not seasonally adjusted).
Youth unemployment jumps
The unemployment rate for Canadians aged 15 to 24 rose 0.7 points to 13.7% in October, as youth employment edged down and more young people looked for work. It was the first notable move after three months of little change, and the rate is little changed from a year earlier. The youth employment rate stood at 54.0%.
Among young people, students faced a higher unemployment rate (13.5%) than those not in school (12.3%), on a non-seasonally adjusted basis. The share of youth attending school rose to 63.3% from 62.2% a year earlier, Statistics Canada reported.
For workers aged 55 and older, the unemployment rate rose 0.2 points to 5.5% as employment fell by 14,000 (−0.3%). Core-aged workers held steady: the rate was unchanged at 5.8% for men and 5.3% for women, with women’s rate down 0.4 points from a year earlier.
Retail slides, construction builds
Wholesale and retail trade led October’s losses, shedding 29,000 jobs (−1.0%). The sector has now lost 113,000 positions (−3.7%) over 12 months, with the year-over-year declines concentrated in Ontario, Quebec and British Columbia, says Statistics Canada.
Construction added 16,000 jobs (+0.9%) after two flat months and is up 47,000 (+2.9%) from a year ago. Educational services gained 15,000 (+1.0%), recovering part of September’s 35,000 drop, though employment in the sector remains 48,000 (−3.0%) below its level of a year earlier.
Alberta loses ground, B.C. rebounds
Alberta posted the largest provincial decline, losing 24,000 jobs (−0.9%) and erasing a similar gain from September. The province’s unemployment rate jumped 0.9 points to 7.3%, though employment there is still up 41,000 (+1.6%) on the year.
In Ontario, employment was little changed for a third straight month, but the unemployment rate rose 0.3 points to 7.3% as more people searched for work. That rate is 0.3 points lower than a year ago, Statistics Canada reported.
Quebec’s employment held steady after a combined loss of 68,000 jobs (−1.5%) in August and September. The province is down 106,000 jobs (−2.3%) year over year. Its unemployment rate fell 0.3 points to 5.7% as fewer people looked for work, but remains 0.4 points higher than a year earlier.
British Columbia added 12,000 jobs (+0.4%) after losing 20,000 in September, with its unemployment rate steady at 6.3%. Newfoundland and Labrador gained 2,900 jobs (+1.2%), while Prince Edward Island lost 1,300 (−1.3%).
Jobseekers waiting longer
The release points to a market where finding a job has become harder, even if layoffs have not surged. Of the people who were unemployed in September, 18.9% had found work by October. That job-finding rate is slightly below the 19.8% recorded a year earlier and well under the 24.6% average for the same months in 2017 to 2019 (not seasonally adjusted). The layoff rate, by contrast, was 0.7%, virtually unchanged from 0.6% a year ago.
Of the roughly 1.5 million Canadians unemployed in October, 23.7% were in long-term unemployment, defined as searching continuously for 27 weeks or more. That is up from 21.5% a year earlier and far above the 17.2% average seen from 2017 to 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic, Statistics Canada reported.
Older workers are bearing the brunt. Among unemployed people aged 55 and older, 32.7% had been searching for at least 27 weeks, up from 27.9% a year earlier. The share was 25.3% for core-aged workers (25 to 54), up from 23.3%, and 15.2% for youth, little changed from 14.4%.
