Employment increased by 54,000 (+0.3%) in November, driven by gains in part-time work. The employment rate rose 0.1 percentage points to 60.9%, while the unemployment rate fell 0.4 percentage points to 6.5%. Employment growth was concentrated among youth aged 15 to 24 (+50,000; +1.8%). There was little change in employment for core-aged people (25 to 54 years) and people aged 55 years and older, reported Statistics Canada on Friday.
In November, employment increased in health care and social assistance (+46,000; +1.6%), accommodation and food services (+14,000; +1.2%) and natural resources (+11,000; +3.4%). On the other hand, employment decreased in wholesale and retail trade (-34,000; -1.1%). Employment was up in Alberta (+29,000; +1.1%), New Brunswick (+5,500; +1.4%) and Manitoba (+4,500; +0.6%). Employment was little changed in the other provinces. Average hourly wages among employees increased 3.6% (+$1.27 to $37.00) on a year-over-year basis in November, following growth of 3.5% in October (not seasonally adjusted), said the federal agency.
“Employment rose by 54,000 (+0.3%) in November, the third consecutive monthly increase. Cumulative increases in September, October and November (+181,000; +0.9%) followed a slow start to the year, with little net employment change from January to August. The employment rate—the percentage of the population aged 15 years and older who are employed—increased by 0.1 percentage points to 60.9% in November, the third consecutive monthly increase. Compared with 12 months earlier, the employment rate was unchanged. The number of private sector employees rose by 52,000 (+0.4%) in November, while there was little change in the number of public sector employees and self-employed workers,” explained Statistics Canada.
It said employment growth in November was driven by a rise in part-time employment (+63,000; +1.6%). Over the past three months, part-time employment has increased at a faster rate (+2.7%; +103,000) than full-time employment (+0.5%; +78,000).
“The unemployment rate fell 0.4 percentage points to 6.5% in November, following a 0.2 percentage point decline in October. The unemployment rate had previously trended up through most of 2025, reaching 7.1% in September—the highest level since May 2016 (excluding 2020 and 2021 during the COVID-19 pandemic),” it said.
“There were 1.5 million unemployed people in November, a decrease of 80,000 (-5.1%) from the previous month.
“Among people who were unemployed in October, 19.6% had found work in November. This job finding rate was up slightly compared with the same months in 2024 (18.6%), indicating that job searchers were more likely to find work in November 2025 than a year earlier (not seasonally adjusted). In comparison, increases in the unemployment rate earlier in the year had been associated with lower job finding rates.”
The layoff rate in November (0.7%) was virtually unchanged compared with 12 months earlier (0.8%) and comparable to the average November layoff rate from 2017 to 2019 (0.8%) (not seasonally adjusted). This rate represents the proportion of people who were employed in October and had become unemployed in November as a result of a layoff. The layoff rate has varied little on a year-over-year basis throughout 2025, it said.
“The total number of people in the labour force edged down (-26,000; -0.1%) in November. The participation rate—the proportion of the population aged 15 and older who were employed or looking for work—fell by 0.2 percentage points to 65.1%.”
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