More Canadians looked for work in December, even as overall employment held steady and full-time positions rose
Employment in Canada was virtually unchanged in December, even as the unemployment rate climbed to 6.8% amid an increase in the number of people looking for work, Statistics Canada has reported in its latest Labour Force Survey.
The agency said employment was “little changed” (up 8,200 or 0.0%) in December after three straight monthly gains totalling 181,000 jobs, while the employment rate held steady at 60.9%.
“In 2025, the labour market faced headwinds, in part due to the economic uncertainty introduced by the threat or imposition of tariffs on exports to the United States,” says Ottawa, citing t impacts of tariff-related trade uncertainty.
Full-time work increased by 50,000 positions, offset by a loss of 42,000 part-time jobs.
On a year-over-year basis, part-time employment rose at a faster pace than full-time work, up 2.6% (99,000) compared with a 0.7% (128,000) increase in full-time jobs.
Average hourly wages for employees rose 3.4% on a year-over-year basis in December, increasing by $1.23 to $37.06 (not seasonally adjusted). That followed wage growth of 3.6% in November.
Unemployment rate climbs as more people search for work
The national unemployment rate rose 0.3 percentage points to 6.8% in December as more people searched for work. Statistics Canada said the increase “partially offsets a cumulative decline of 0.6 percentage points in the previous two months.”
There were 1.6 million unemployed people in December, an increase of 73,000 or 4.9% from November.
The labour force participation rate, which measures the share of people aged 15 and older who are employed or looking for work, rose by 0.3 percentage points to 65.4% in December. On a year-over-year basis, the participation rate was unchanged.
Among core-aged workers 25 to 54, increases in the number of people searching for work led to a rise in the unemployment rate for men (up 0.4 percentage points to 6.0%) and women (up 0.4 percentage points to 5.9%), says Statistics Canada.
For people aged 55 and older, the unemployment rate fell 0.2 percentage points to 5.1% in December as employment in that group rose by 33,000 (0.8%). Year over year, the unemployment rate for those 55 and over was unchanged.
Jobs by industry, regional varation in Canada
By industry, December’s employment picture was mixed. Health care and social assistance added 21,000 jobs (0.7%), building on growth of 46,000 (1.6%) recorded in November, for a 12‑month gain of 85,000 (+3.0%). Statistics Canada also reported more people working in “other services” such as personal and repair services (+15,000; +2.0%).
Offsetting those gains, professional, scientific and technical services shed 18,000 jobs (-0.9%), the first drop since August, while remaining “little changed…compared with 12 months earlier.” Employment also fell in accommodation and food services (-12,000; -1.0%) and utilities (-5,300; -3.0%).
Across the provinces, employment rose in Quebec but fell in Alberta and Saskatchewan, and was largely flat elsewhere, says Ottawa. Quebec added 16,000 jobs (0.3%), “the first significant gain…since June 2025,” though its jobless rate rose 0.3 points to 5.4%.
Alberta lost 14,000 jobs (-0.5%) in December but remained up 58,000 (+2.3%) year over year, with unemployment at 6.8%, “on par” with late 2024. Saskatchewan shed 4,000 jobs (-0.6%) and its unemployment rate climbed to 6.5%. Ontario employment was little changed, up 0.9% (+72,000) over the year, while its jobless rate rose to 7.9%.
Youth unemployment up, capping a difficult year
Youth aged 15 to 24 saw deteriorating labour market conditions in December. Their unemployment rate rose 0.5 percentage points to 13.3% as youth employment fell by 27,000 (down 1.0%).
The report noted that labour market conditions had previously improved for this demographic in October and November, when youth employment rose by 70,000 (2.6%) and the youth unemployment rate fell by 1.9 percentage points over those two months.
“More difficult labour market conditions in 2025 were most evident among youth. The youth unemployment rate reached a high of 14.7% in September, the highest rate since September 2010 (excluding 2020 and 2021),” says the Labour Force Survey.
Students also faced a difficult summer job market in 2025: The unemployment rate for returning students was 17.9% on average between May and August—the highest rate since the summer of 2009 (when it was 18.0%), excluding 2020.
The federal government has launched a national consultation to address challenges in youth employment and develop strategies to help young workers secure sustainable careers.
2025 in review: slow hiring, late-year improvement
From January to August 2025, “there was virtually no net employment growth in Canada,” according to the release. Over that period, the employment rate trended down from 61.1% in January to a low of 60.5% in August, while the unemployment rate climbed to 7.1% in August, the highest level since May 2016 (excluding 2020 and 2021 during the COVID-19 pandemic).
Statistics Canada said the rise in unemployment in the first eight months of the year “mostly reflected slower hirings.” The job finding rate averaged 18.1% between January and August 2025, compared with 21.0% over the same months in 2024 and 24.0% between 2017 and 2019, before the pandemic.
By contrast, layoff rates “were similar to historical levels” over that period. On average from January to August, the proportion of employed people who had become unemployed due to a layoff from one month to the next was 0.8%, says Statistics Canada, identical to the averages for the corresponding months in both 2024 and 2017–2019.
Job vacancies also fell through most of 2025. Based on the Job Vacancy and Wage Survey, job vacancies were down by 56,000 (10.2%) on a year-over-year basis in the third quarter of 2025. The share of vacancies classified as long-term (open 90 days or more) declined to 27.1% from 31.6% a year earlier, which “indicates that in addition to having fewer job vacancies, employers had fewer difficulties filling available positions compared with previous quarters.”
Labour market conditions improved in the final months of the year as employment rose by 181,000 (0.9%) from August to November, before holding steady in December.
Over the same period, the employment rate increased and “stood at 60.9% at the end of the year, little changed from December 2024,” says Ottawa. The unemployment rate fell to 6.5% in November, its lowest level of 2025, before rising again to 6.8% in December as more people searched for work.
