Employment increased by 51,000 (+0.2%) in November and the employment rate held steady at 60.6%. The unemployment rate rose 0.3 percentage points to 6.8%, as more people looked for work, according to a report released by Statistics Canada on Friday.
“In November, employment rose among core-aged (25 to 54 years old) men (+45,000; +0.6%), while it fell among women aged 55 to 64 years old (-20,000; -1.3%). Employment rose in the month in wholesale and retail trade (+39,000; +1.3%), construction (+18,000; +1.2%), professional, scientific and technical services (+17,000; +0.9%), educational services (+15,000; +1.0%), and accommodation and food services (+15,000; +1.3%). It declined in manufacturing (-29,000; -1.6%), transportation and warehousing (-19,000; -1.7%) and natural resources (-6,300; -1.8%). Employment increased in Alberta (+24,000; +1.0%), Quebec (+22,000; +0.5%), Manitoba (+6,600; +0.9%) and Prince Edward Island (+2,700; +2.9%) in November, while it was little changed in the other provinces,” said the federal agency.
“Total hours worked were little changed in November (-0.2%) but were up 1.9% compared with 12 months earlier. Average hourly wages among employees increased by 4.1% (+$1.40 to $35.68) on a year-over-year basis in November, following growth of 4.9% in October (not seasonally adjusted).”
Pnoto-fauxels
It said employment gains were concentrated in full-time work (+54,000; +0.3%).
“After falling for six consecutive months from May to October, the employment rate—the proportion of the population aged 15 and older who are employed—held steady at 60.6% in November, as employment growth in the month kept pace with growth in the population aged 15 and older in the Labour Force Survey (LFS) (+0.2%). On a year-over-year basis, the employment rate was down 1.2 percentage points,”added StatsCan.
Public sector employment rose by 45,000 (+1.0%) in November, and accounted for the majority of the overall employment gain in the month. The number of employees in the private sector and the number of self-employed people were both little changed in November, said the report.
Compared with 12 months earlier, the number of employees in the public sector grew by 127,000 (+2.9%) in November. The increase was driven by the public-sector component of health care and social assistance (+81,000) and educational services (+48,000) (not seasonally adjusted). Over the same period, private sector employment rose at a slower pace (+1.3%; +173,000), it said.
“The unemployment rate increased 0.3 percentage points to 6.8% in November, the highest rate since January 2017 (excluding the years 2020 and 2021, during the COVID-19 pandemic). The unemployment rate has trended up since April 2023, rising 1.7 percentage points over the period,” explained Statistics Canada.
“The number of unemployed people—those looking for work or on temporary layoff—increased by 87,000 (+6.1%) in November, bringing the total number of unemployed persons to 1.5 million. On a year-over-year basis, the number of unemployed people was up by 276,000 (+22.2%).
“The unemployed population includes people who lost or left their previous job, as well as people who are new entrants to the labour force. In November, nearly half (46.3%, or 663,000 people) of unemployed people had not worked in the last year or had never worked, up from 39.5% in November 2023 (not seasonally adjusted). In comparison, the share of unemployed people who had lost their job prior to being unemployed (38.8%) and the share who had voluntarily left their previous job (14.9%) were both down from a year earlier.”
Unemployment rate by province and territory, November 2024
Unemployment rate rises in most of the large census metropolitan areas
“In November 2024, 12.5% of employed Canadians indicated that they usually worked exclusively at home and 11.5% had a hybrid arrangement—that is, they usually worked some hours at home, and some hours at locations other than home (population aged 15 to 69, not seasonally adjusted). Both proportions were little changed from November 2023,” said the federal agency.
“Among hybrid workers, 55.8% worked at least half of their hours at locations other than home during the LFS November reference week, up 4.2 percentage points from the same month in 2023 (workers aged 15 to 69 who were not absent from work). The increase partly reflects a shift towards more time spent on-site among hybrid workers in public administration, where the proportion of hybrid workers who worked at least half of their hours at locations other than home rose 19.9 percentage points to 61.5% over the period.
“In comparison, the proportion of hybrid workers who worked half of their hours or more on-site was little changed in professional, scientific, and technical services (44.1%) and finance, insurance, real estate, rental and leasing (39.9%)—two industries with relatively high rates of hybrid work.”
Mario Toneguzzi
Mario Toneguzzi is Managing Editor of Canada’s Podcast. He has more than 40 years of experience as a daily newspaper writer, columnist, and editor. He was named in 2021 as one of the Top 10 Business Journalists in the World by PR News – the only Canadian to make the list. He was also named by RETHINK to its global list of Top Retail Experts 2024.
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