Unemployment rate in Canada increases to highest level in over a year;  5.4% in June

July 19, 2023

Employment in Canada increased by 60,000 (+0.3%) in June, driven by gains in full-time work (+110,000; +0.7%).

The unemployment rate rose to 5.4% (+0.2 percentage points), as more people searched for work.

Employment gains in June were concentrated among young men aged 15 to 24 (+31,000) and men aged 25 to 54 (+31,000). Employment among women of all age groups was little changed in June.

Employment increased in Ontario (+56,000), Nova Scotia (+3,600), and Newfoundland and Labrador (+2,300) in June, while it declined in Prince Edward Island (-2,400). There was little variation in the other provinces.

Employment rose in wholesale and retail trade (+33,000), manufacturing (+27,000), health care and social assistance (+21,000) and transportation and warehousing (+10,000). Meanwhile, declines were recorded in construction (-14,000), educational services (-14,000) and agriculture (-6,000).

Average hourly wages rose 4.2% (+$1.32 to $33.12) on a year-over-year basis in June, following an increase of 5.1% in May (not seasonally adjusted).

Total hours worked were virtually unchanged in June and were up 2.0% on a year-over-year basis.

Employment in June driven by full-time work, follows little change in May

Employment rose by 60,000 (+0.3%) in June, following little change in May. The increase in June was the largest since January 2023. Employment growth had moderated from February to May (averaging 20,000 per month), following strong growth from October 2022 to January 2023 (averaging 79,000 per month).

The employment rate—the proportion of the population aged 15 and older who are employed—edged up 0.1 percentage points to 62.2% in June.

Employment gains in June were all in full-time work (+110,000; +0.7%), as the number of people working part-time fell (-50,000; -1.4%).

Year-over-year hourly wage growth decelerates in June

Average hourly wages rose 4.2% (+$1.32 to $33.12) on a year-over-year basis in June (not seasonally adjusted). This was the slowest year-over-year growth in average hourly wages since May 2022. From February to May 2023, year-over-year growth in average hourly wages had hovered between 5.1% and 5.4%.

In the 12 months to June 2023, average hourly wages grew 4.7% to $30.95 among women, and grew 3.6% to $35.21 among men.

Employment among core-age men rises for third consecutive month

Among core-aged men (25 to 54 years old), employment increased by 31,000 (+0.5%) in June, bringing the cumulative gain since March to 92,000. The employment rate of core-aged men was 88.2% in June, up 0.4 percentage points since April.

Employment among core-aged women was little changed in June, as full-time work increased and part-time work edged down. Employment growth among core-aged women has slowed in recent months, averaging 7,000 per month since February 2023, compared with 24,000 per month from September 2022 to January 2023. The employment rate of core-aged women held steady at 81.7% in June, and is still down from the record-high of 82.2% observed in January.

Employment for young men aged 15 to 24 rose by 31,000 (+2.3%) in June, offsetting a decline of 35,000 recorded in May. Among young women, employment was little changed in June after falling by 43,000 in May. The employment rate for young men rose 1.0 percentage points to 57.9% in June, while for young women it was little changed at 58.1% in the month.

Employment was virtually unchanged in June for both men and women aged 55 and older.

Unemployment rate increases to highest level in over a year

The unemployment rate rose 0.2 percentage points to 5.4% in June, following a similar increase (+0.2 percentage points) in May. The increase brought the rate to its highest level since February 2022 (when it was also 5.4%). There were 1.1 million people unemployed in June, an increase of 54,000 (+4.9%) in the month.

Despite the successive increases in May and June, the unemployment rate in Canada remained below its pre-COVID-19 pandemic average of 5.7% recorded in the 12 months to February 2020.

The unemployment rate for core-aged men increased 0.2 percentage points to 4.4% in June, the first increase since November 2022. Meanwhile, the participation rate of core-aged men rose 0.2 percentage points to 92.2% in June. For core-aged women, the unemployment rate was 4.4% in June—the same as their male counterparts, and little changed in the month.

Among women aged 55 and older, the unemployment rate rose from 3.6% in May to 4.3% in June, as employment held steady and the number of job searchers rose. The unemployment rate of women aged 55 and older had previously fallen from 5.0% in August 2022 to a record-low 3.5% in April 2023.

The unemployment rate of men aged 55 and older has generally varied little since the fall of 2022. It held steady at 4.4% in June.

Following an increase of 0.7 percentage points in May, the unemployment rate of young women aged 15 to 24 rose by a full percentage point in June to reach 10.5%, its highest level since October 2022. Among young men aged 15 to 24, the unemployment rate was little changed at 12.5% in June.

Source: Statistics Canada
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