Monthly Jobs Report

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

Full-time job leads November employment growth

The employment growth was primarily driven by full-time jobs as the total employment in Canada rose by +51,000 (0.2%). This increase held the employment rate steady at 60.6% after keeping a downward trend for the previous six months, implying small hints of Canada being closer to a stabilization in the population growth outpacing employment.

Unemployment reached its highest level in over 2 years

After remaining steady in the last two months, the unemployment rate went up by 0.3 percentage points in November. This represents the highest rate since September 2021, and excluding the COVID-19 period, it is the highest level since the beginning of 2017.

However, nearly half (46.3%) of people have never worked or have not worked in over a year, this proportion of the population increased significantly compared to 12 months earlier (+6.8%).

Employment keeps going up in Albert, but in other provinces too

Alberta led again employment gains, this time even more, by +24,000 individuals (+1.0%), followed by Quebec with a +0.5% increase, Manitoba by +0.9%, and Prince Edward Island by +2.9%. Other provinces saw little change.

As the holiday season approached, wholesale and retail trade took the lead in employment growth

In November, employment grew in wholesale and retail trade by +1.3%, construction by +1.2%, and professional, scientific, and technical services by +0.9. However, manufacturing employment declined by -1.6%, primarily in Ontario that lost -20,000 jobs in this industry.

Transportation and warehousing also saw a drop in employment by -1.7%, largely due to labour disputes, including port lockouts in Vancouver and Montréal and a Canada Post strike.

Census metropolitan areas with the highest unemployment rate:

• Windsor - 8.7%
• Edmonton - 8.3%
• Toronto - 8.1%
• Calgary - 7.9
• Oshawa – 7.8%

Unemployment rates were lowest in the Victoria (3.7%), Québec (4.5%) and Kelowna (4.7%) CMAs.

Almost a third part of cored-aged Canadians participated in training outside of the formal education system in the past year

In November 2024, 29.2% of Canadians aged 25 to 54 participated in training outside the formal education system in the previous 12 months, a slight decrease from 2022. Most of these individuals engaged in job-specific training (73.9%), highlighting the role of employers in driving participation.

Other common types of training included personal development, occupational health and safety, and computer-related training. For those who did not pursue training, the main reasons were lack of necessity, along with increased concerns about time constraints and cost compared to the previous year.

More hybrid workers are spending more work hours at job locations vs home

12.5% of employed Canadians worked exclusively from home in November, while 11.5% had a hybrid work arrangement, similar to November 2023. Among hybrid workers, 55.8% spent at least half of their hours at locations other than home, marking a 4.2 percentage-point increase from 2023.

This shift was particularly notable in public administration, where the proportion of hybrid workers working more on-site rose by 19.9 percentage points to 61.5%. In contrast, hybrid work patterns in industries like professional services and finance saw little change, with fewer than half of workers spending more time on-site.

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

• Employment increased by +51,000 (+0.2%), and employment rate remained at 60.6%.
• The unemployment rate rose by +0.3% to 6.8%, the highest rate registered since September 2021.
• Employment rose in Alberta (+1.0%), Quebec (+0.5%), Manitoba (+0.9%), and Prince Edward Island (+2.9%). Ontario dropped by -0.1%, and Newfoundland and Labrador by -0.8%.
• The market showed employment gains among core-aged men of +45,000 (+0.6%) and declines among women aged 55-64 of -20,000 (-1.3%).
• Gains were observed in wholesale and retail trade (+1.3%), construction (+1.2%), professional, scientific and technical services (+0.9%) while the manufacturing sector led declines in the number of jobs by -1.6% of its labour force, followed by transportation and warehousing (-1.7%), and natural resources (-1.8%).
• The total hours worked fell slightly by -0.2% and were up by +1.9% compared to the same period of 2023.
• The total hours worked fell slightly by -0.2% and were up by +1.9% compared to the same period of 2023.

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