Job Market
Canada’s job market lost ground for a second straight month in September. Statistics Canada reported on Oct. 9 that employment fell by 68,000, or 0.3%, and the unemployment rate rose 0.1 percentage point to 6.5%. The employment rate, the share of people aged 15 and older who are working, dropped 0.2 percentage points to 60.6%.
The September decline followed a drop of 42,000 (0.2%) in August. Before those two losses, employment had trended up from April to July, a gain of 181,000 (0.9%). Compared with September 2025, employment was still up by 95,000, or 0.5%. The September loss was split between full-time work (down 35,000) and part-time work (down 33,000).
Young workers and core-aged women
The agency said the decline was concentrated among youth aged 15 to 24, whose employment fell by 48,000 (1.8%), and women aged 25 to 54, whose employment fell by 28,000 (0.4%). It was the second consecutive monthly drop for youth. The two-month decline of 67,000 (2.4%) offset the gains recorded from April to July. The youth unemployment rate was little changed at 13.0%, because the number of young people in the labour force also fell, by 50,000.
For core-aged women, the unemployment rate rose 0.3 percentage points to 5.3%. For core-aged men, employment held steady and the unemployment rate fell 0.2 percentage points to 5.8%.
Industries and provinces
Educational services shed 35,000 jobs (2.2%), health care and social assistance lost 23,000 (0.8%), and manufacturing lost 13,000 (0.7%). The health care decline was the first monthly decrease for that sector since December 2022, and the sector remained up by 93,000 (3.2%) over 12 months. The agency also reported that the number of public sector employees fell by 70,000 (1.5%), the fourth consecutive monthly decline for the sector. Employment in “other services,” which includes repair and maintenance and personal or household services, rose by 17,000 (2.1%).
By province, Quebec had the largest decline, with 49,000 fewer people working (1.1%) and its unemployment rate up 0.4 points to 6.0%. Employment in British Columbia fell by 20,000 (0.7%) and in Manitoba by 4,400 (0.6%). Alberta added 23,000 jobs (0.9%), and its unemployment rate fell to 6.4%. Ontario edged down by 20,000 (0.2%), with an unemployment rate of 7.0%.
Wages and participation
Average hourly wages among employees rose 2.3% year over year in September, up $0.86 to $37.64, after growth of 2.0% in August. Statistics Canada noted that this wage figure is not seasonally adjusted. The participation rate fell 0.2 points to 64.8%, the lowest since December 1997 outside 2020. The agency attributed the lower rate largely to population aging, noting that people aged 65 and older now make up 23.2% of the working-age population.
Reading the numbers
The Labour Force Survey is a household survey with a sample of about 65,000 households. Statistics Canada says its analysis focuses on differences that are statistically significant at the 68% confidence level, and that monthly estimates may show more sampling variability than longer trends. The agency also directs readers to its survey guide for the conceptual differences between LFS employment and the employer-based measures in its Survey of Employment, Payrolls and Hours. The release offers no basis for drawing conclusions about hiring in the United States or Atlanta.
What to watch
The next Labour Force Survey will be released on Nov. 6, 2026, covering the week of Oct. 11 to 17. Watch whether youth employment stabilizes after two straight declines, and whether education and health care employment keep falling.
Sources
- Statistics Canada, The Daily, “Labour Force Survey, September 2026,” October 9, 2026. https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/daily-quotidien/261009/dq261009a-eng.htm
Featured photo: An aerial view of the Tunney’s Pasture federal government campus in Ottawa, home of Statistics Canada’s headquarters, in April 2008. Representative image. Photo: Robkelk, via Wikimedia Commons (Public domain). Cropped from the original.
