By love-89.com In an interview capturing the recent employment trends in Canada, a report from the Canadian Press reveals that the job numbers saw a modest increase of 47,000 in September. For the first time since January, the unemployment rate dipped, although this coincided with a decline in the labor participation rate.
According to the latest labor force survey released by Statistics Canada on October 11, the employment figure rose by 0.2% from the previous month, marking a change after four months of stagnant job growth. However, the employment rate fell by 0.1 percentage points to 60.7%.
After hitting a recent peak of 62.4% in January and February 2023, Canada’s employment rate has been on a downward trajectory. Statistics Canada explained that this decline stems from the growing population aged 15 and older outpacing job growth.
When compared to the same time last year, employment numbers have increased by 313,000, a rate of 1.5%. Nonetheless, the population aged 15 and older has grown by 1.2 million, reflecting a 3.6% increase.
Full-time employment saw a significant uptick in September, with an increase of 112,000 jobs, marking a 0.7% rise—the largest since May 2022.
The unemployment rate was recorded at 6.5%, declining by 0.1 percentage points, ending a series of increases since January. The drop was largely driven by improvements among youth aged 15 to 24.
Conversely, the labor participation rate—representing those aged 15 and older who are either employed or actively seeking work—fell by 0.2 percentage points to 64.9%, marking the third decline in four months. Compared to last year, the overall labor participation rate decreased by 0.7 percentage points.
Sector-specific data reveals that employment in the information, culture, and recreation industries rose by 2.6% in September, a notable change after seven months of little fluctuation. Additionally, the professional, scientific, and technical services sector saw a month-over-month increase of 1.1%.
In wholesale and retail trade, employment increased by 0.8%, the first gain since January. However, this sector has faced a general downward trend since August 2023.
According to Statistics Canada, if assessed using the American standard, Canada’s unemployment rate for September stands at 5.4%, which is 1.3 percentage points higher than the U.S. rate of 4.1%. Year-over-year, Canada’s unemployment rate has risen by 0.8 percentage points, while the U.S. has seen a more modest increase of 0.3 percentage points. Over the past year, Canada’s employment rate has declined by 1.1 percentage points to 61.3% by the American measure, in contrast to the U.S., which experienced a drop of only 0.2 percentage points to 60.2%. This illustrates that Canada’s rise in unemployment rate has outpaced that of the United States.