The labour market edged upward in September with 60,000 more people employed, breaking a two-month streak of losses, yet the national unemployment rate held steady at 7.1 percent.
The employment rate rose slightly to 60.6 percent, still below the early-2025 peak of 61.1 percent. Full-time jobs drove the increase, adding 106,000 positions, while part-time work contracted by 46,000. Growth was concentrated in the public sector and in core-aged workers, with women recording a strong rebound of 76,000 jobs and men adding 33,000. Youth employment remained flat, while employment among Canadians 55 and older fell sharply by 44,000.
Industry data reveals a split picture. Manufacturing, health care and agriculture recorded solid gains, reversing earlier declines in 2025. Manufacturing added 28,000 positions after months of losses, with Ontario and Alberta leading the way. Agriculture posted its first rise since January, up 13,000, while health care and social assistance grew by 14,000. In contrast, wholesale and retail trade shed 21,000 jobs, a reminder of the sector’s continued volatility.
Provincially, Alberta delivered the largest gains, adding 43,000 jobs after back-to-back declines. The unemployment rate dropped to 7.8 percent. Calgary and Edmonton are the hardest-hit metropolitan areas with rates of 8.1 and 8.7 percent.
Ontario showed little overall change, with its rate ticking up to 7.9 percent. Quebec held steady at 5.7 percent after summer weakness. Newfoundland and Labrador was the only province to post a clear decline, losing 2,200 jobs.
The unemployment rate for Canadians aged 15 to 24 rose to 14.7 percent in September, the highest level since 2010 outside the pandemic years. Among students, the rate hit 17.1 percent, underscoring what had already been a difficult summer job market. The core-aged workers showed stability, with unemployment for men dipping to 6.2 percent and women holding at 5.8 percent. The older worker rate climbed to 5.5 percent, reflecting job losses and weaker participation.
Only 16.4 percent of core-aged Canadians with postsecondary education now work in jobs unrelated to their training, up nearly a point from a year earlier. Among recent immigrants, that figure is more than one in five, and over a third say they are overqualified for their current positions. Sales, service and administrative occupations continue to absorb many of the workers, often far from their field of study.
Since January, Canada has added just 22,000 net jobs, an anemic 0.1 percent increase in a workforce of more than 21 million. The data suggests the job market is holding its ground, but the cracks, youth joblessness, older workers exiting the labour force, and skills mismatches are widening beneath the surface.