Monthly jobs and employment report, Canada

Employment among youth aged 15 to 24 rose +1.5% (+40,000), the first monthly increase for youth employment since December 2022. Employment among women aged 55 and older fell -0.8% (-16,000), while men aged 55 and older saw virtually no change at 39.9%.

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Employment in professional, scientific, and technical services increased by +1.3% (+26,000), following a decrease in March. Employment in accommodation and food services increased by 2.2% (+24,000), offsetting a decreased in March. Employment in health care and social assistance increased by +0.6% (+17,000), becoming the industry with the fastest employment growth, with people working in hospitals up +9.8%, followed by social assistance up +8.6% and nursing and residential care facilities up +8.3%.

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Every month, Adecco Canada interprets the data from Statistics Canada’s Labour Force Survey. Here’s what happened in April:

Employment rates hold steady following six consecutive monthly declines

In April, employment increased +0.4% (+90,000) as the employment rate held steady at 61.4%, following six months of consecutive monthly decline.

Unemployment rates holds steady in April

The unemployment rate was unchanged in April, holding steady at 6.1%, following an increase of 0.3% percentage points in March. This brings the cumulative increase over the past 12 months up 1.0 percentage points. In April, there were 1.3 million unemployment people, following little change from the previous month, while compared with 12 months earlier, the number of unemployed people was up by +23 (256,000) in April.

Employment up in Ontario, British Columbia, Quebec, and New Brunswick in April

Employment in Ontario increased by +0.3% (25,000) in April, building on a cumulative increase of +0.7% (57,000) from December 2023 to March 2024. Despite the employment gains, the employment rate in Ontario was little changed in April at 60.6% and was down 1.6 percentage points on a year-over-year basis. In British Columbia, employment rose by +0.8% (23,000) in April, the first significant increase since December 2023. Employment in Quebec increased by +0.4% (19,000), offsetting the decline in the previous month. This increase was the first significant gain since September 2023. Following five months of little change, employment in New Brunswick increased +2.0% (+7,800) in April and the employment rate rose 0.9 percentage points to 56.9%, while employment in Alberta saw little change in April, as there were more people searching for work.

Employment increases in service-producing industries, led by professional, scientific, and technical services

In April, employment in professional, scientific, and technical services increased by +1.3% (+26,000), following a decrease in March -1.0% (-20,000). Employment in accommodation and food services was up by +2.2% (+24,000), followed by health care and social assistance by +0.6% (+17,000). Over the past 12 months, the fastest growth in employment has been among people working in hospitals +9.8%, followed by social assistance by +8.6% and nursing and residential care facilities by +8.3% (not seasonally adjusted).

Unemployment rate increases among racialized groups

In the past 12 months, the unemployment rates rose by 4.4% percentage points to 11.2% for core-aged Black Canadians, 2.1 percentage points to 6.8% for core-aged South Asians and 1.3 percentage points to 7.5% for core-aged Chinese Canadians.

Over the same period, the unemployment rate rose 0.3 percentages points to 4.2% among non-racialized core-aged people.

Don’t have time for a long reading? We’ve summarized the key takeaways from this month:

• Employment increased by +0.4% (90,000) and the unemployment rate was unchanged at 6.1%.
• Employment increased was led by Ontario +0.3% (+25,000), followed by British Columbia +0.8% (+23,000), Quebec +0.8% (19,000) and New Brunswick +2.0% (+7,800).
• Employment rose among core-aged men (25 to 54 years old) +0.6% (+41,000) and women +0.4% (+27,000), while it declined among women aged 55 and older -0.8% (-16,000).
• Employment increase was led by professional, scientific, and technical services +1.3% (+26,000), accommodation and food services 2.2% (24,000), health care and social assistance +0.6% (+17,000) and natural resources +2.3% (+7,700) while it fell in utilities -3.1% (-5,000).
• Average hourly wages increased 4.7% (+$1.57 to $34.95) on a year-over-year basis, following growth of 5.1% in March.
• Total hours worked rose 0.8% in April and were up 1.2% compared with 12 months earlier.

References

Statistics Canada. (2022). Table 14-10-0287-01 Labour force characteristics, monthly, seasonally adjusted and trend-cycle, last 5 months [Data table]. https://doi.org/10.25318/1410028701-eng

Statistics Canada. (2022). Table 14-10-0355-01 Employment by industry, monthly, seasonally adjusted and unadjusted, and trend-cycle, last 5 months (x 1,000) [Data table]. https://doi.org/10.25318/1410035501-eng