The labour market weakened in August as the economy lost 42,000 jobs.
The unemployment rate held at 6.4%.. The participation rate slipped 0.1 percentage points to 65%, while the employment rate fell by the same amount to 60.8%.
The August losses followed employment gains totalling 181,000 between April and July. Compared with a year earlier, the number of people working was up 217,000, or 1%.
Public-sector employment fell by 20,000, its third monthly decline in a row. The sector has lost 78,000 positions since May and recorded little change from August 2025.
Private-sector employment was little changed in August but remained 156,000 higher than a year earlier. Self-employment was also steady for the month and up 80,000 year over year.
Business, building and other support services lost 20,000 jobs. Employment also declined in public administration, natural resources and utilities.
Manufacturing added 22,000 positions, the only industry to record a significant increase. Ontario accounted for 14,000 of those jobs, offsetting some of the sector’s losses earlier in the year.
Over the past 12 months, health care and social assistance added 129,000 jobs. Employment also rose in information, culture and recreation and in transportation and warehousing. Wholesale and retail trade lost 55,000 positions.
Average hourly wages increased 2% from a year earlier to $37.02. That was down from annual growth of 2.8% in July and 3.3% in June. Excluding the pandemic year of 2021, wage growth was the slowest since November 2017.
Workers at the lower end of the wage scale saw the smallest increases. Average wages rose 1.1% for employees in the bottom quarter of the wage distribution and 1.3% for those in the second-lowest quarter. Both upper quarters recorded increases of 2.1%.
Employment among people aged 15 to 24 fell by 19,000. Their unemployment rate rose 0.3 percentage points to 12.9%, well above the pre-pandemic average of 10.8%.
Students returning to school had a better summer job market than last year. Their unemployment rate averaged 15.9% from May through August, compared with 17.9% in 2025.
The improvement did not reach the youngest students. Among those aged 15 and 16, the summer unemployment rate was 29.9%, little changed from 29.6% last year.
About 1.5 million people were unemployed in August. Of that group, 24% had been looking for work for at least 27 weeks. Before the pandemic, the comparable average was 17.1%.
Quebec lost 19,000 jobs, with the decline concentrated in Montreal. It was the only province to record lower employment than a year earlier, down 54,000 positions, or 1.2%.
Ontario employment fell by 18,000 during the month but remained 116,000 higher than in August 2025. New Brunswick added 2,400 jobs, while employment was little changed in the other provinces.