Employment holds steady in October as the unemployment rate rises to 6.7%
Statistics Canada says private-sector employment fell by 53,000, while transportation and warehousing employed 1,109,100 people.
Employment in Canada was little changed in October, slipping by 4,700 jobs, while the unemployment rate rose 0.2 percentage points to 6.7%, Statistics Canada said in its Labour Force Survey, released Nov. 6.
The employment rate, the share of people aged 15 and older who have a job, fell 0.1 percentage points to 60.5%, the third monthly decline in a row. Over the 12 months to October, employment was up only 17,000, or 0.1%, and the employment rate was down 0.3 percentage points.
The survey covers the week of Oct. 11 to 17. Statistics Canada said its analysis focuses on changes that are statistically significant at the 68% confidence level.
Private-sector jobs fall
The number of private-sector employees fell by 53,000, or 0.4%, in October, the first decline since February. Public-sector employment rose by 50,000, or 1.1%, after four monthly declines that totalled 148,000. Compared with a year earlier, public-sector employment was down 70,000, or 1.5%, and private-sector employment was up 35,000, or 0.3%. Self-employment was little changed in the month and was up 52,000, or 1.9%, from October 2025.
Average hourly wages among employees were $37.89 in October, up 2.2%, or 83 cents, from a year earlier. Those wage figures are not seasonally adjusted.
Transportation and warehousing
Seasonally adjusted industry figures put employment in transportation and warehousing at 1,109,100 in October, compared with 1,119,200 in September, a decline of 10,100, or 0.9%. The table's average standard error for that monthly change is 11,100. From October 2025, the sector was up 14,800 jobs, or 1.4%.
Among the industries Statistics Canada highlighted, wholesale and retail trade fell by 29,000, or 1.0%, and has dropped 113,000, or 3.7%, over 12 months, with those yearly losses concentrated in Ontario, Quebec and British Columbia. Construction rose by 16,000, or 0.9%, and educational services by 15,000, or 1.0%.
Provinces and who is looking for work
Employment fell by 24,000, or 0.9%, in Alberta, offsetting a similar-sized gain in September, and the provincial unemployment rate jumped 0.9 percentage points to 7.3%. British Columbia added 12,000 jobs, or 0.4%. Ontario's employment was little changed for a third straight month, but its unemployment rate rose 0.3 percentage points to 7.3% as more people looked for work.
The national unemployment rate increased because 33,000 more people searched for work, a rise of 2.2%. It was the second consecutive monthly increase, though the rate was 0.2 percentage points lower than a year earlier and below the recent peak of 6.9% in April 2026.
Youth unemployment, for people aged 15 to 24, rose 0.7 percentage points to 13.7%. The rate was unchanged for core-aged men at 5.8% and core-aged women at 5.3%. For people 55 and older, it rose 0.2 percentage points to 5.5%.
Of the 1.5 million people who were unemployed in October, 23.7% had been searching for work for 27 weeks or more, up from 21.5% a year earlier.
Statistics Canada will release the November survey on Dec. 4.