Jobs
20,969,300
0.0% from the previous month
+1.3% from the previous year
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Reading Time: 35 minutes
Posted On 11th of April, 2025
0.0% from the previous month
+1.3% from the previous year
+0.2% from the previous month
+0.7% from the previous year
The number of jobs fell in its first significant decline since January 2022, losing 33,000 jobs (-0.2%).
Employment fell for the first time since January 2022 leading the unemployment rate to 6.7%, the first increase since November 2024.
Most age groups remained virtually unchanged while employment among men aged 55 and older fell by -0.9%.
Employment decline was mostly driven by full-time employment which dropped by -0.4% (-62,000).
“Other services” rose by +1.5%, while wholesale and retail trade led declines in March with a -1.0% fall followed by information, culture and recreation decreasing by -2.4%. Other industries saw little change.
Every month, Adecco Canada interprets the data from Statistics Canada’s Labour Force Survey. Here’s what happened in March:
Canadian employment declined in March, facing a -0.2% drop (-33,000 jobs). This followed a period of relative stability ending in February with strong gains between November 2024 and January 2025. Most of this decline was due to a decrease in full-time employment, which fell by -0.4%partially reversing the upward trend observed in late 2024. This led to a decline in the employment rate that dropped by 0.2 percentage points to 60.9%.
The private sector led the downturn falling by -0.3%, while the self-employed and the private sector remained stable.
The unemployment rate rose to 6.7% in March, a +0.1% increase after falling 0.3 percentage points from November 2024 to January 2025 responding to a significant employment growth since the end of 2024. As of March 2025, the Canadian unemployment rate stayed above its pre-pandemic average of 6.0%, continuing a trend that began in March 2024.
Overall, the number of unemployed people rose to 1.5 million in March, a 2.5% increase from the previous month and 12.4% higher than a year earlier. Unemployed individuals were facing greater challenges in finding work: only 14.7% of those unemployed in February found jobs in March, down from 18.6% a year earlier. Long-term unemployment also grew, with 23.7% of unemployed people searching for work for 27 weeks or more, compared to 18.3% in March 2024.
On a demographic level, men aged 55 and older saw the most significant job losses (-21,000; -0.9%), continuing a downward trend for this group in 2025. Core-aged men (25 to 54) also experienced a slight decline in employment, whereas employment levels among core-aged women and youth remained largely unchanged. However, youth employment rates were lower than the previous year for both young men and women.
Ontario experienced a drop of 28,000 jobs (-0.3%), marking its first significant decrease since December 2023. Losses were mainly in the information, culture, and recreation sector, as well as business and support services.
Alberta also saw a decrease in employment, with 15,000 jobs down (-0.6%), declines centered in manufacturing and wholesale/retail trade. In contrast, Saskatchewan observed an employment gain of 6,600 jobs (+1.1%), contributing to a year-over-year increase of 3.1%. Its unemployment rate dropped to 4.9%, the lowest among all provinces.
Quebec's employment remained stable for the fourth consecutive month. However, its unemployment rate rose to 5.7% (+0.4 percentage points) due to a growing number of job seekers, despite year-over-year employment growth of 1.9%.
In March, employment fell significantly in wholesale and retail trade by 29,000 jobs (-1.0%), reversing some of February’s gains. Information, culture and recreation also saw a notable drop ( -2.4%) after months of stability. Agriculture experienced a decline as well (-3.9%).
Meanwhile, modest job growth occurred in "other services" (+12,000; +1.5%) and utilities (+4,200; +2.8%).
Statistics Canada. (2025). 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. (2025). 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