Canada’s unemployment rate rose to 6.7 per cent in October, up 0.2 percentage points from September, as more people looked for work and employers added no net jobs. Statistics Canada’s Labour Force Survey, released Friday, put the month’s employment change at a statistically insignificant loss of 4,700 jobs.
October was the third month in a row with no job growth. Employment fell by 42,000 in August and 68,000 in September. The employment rate, which is the share of people 15 and older who have a job, slipped 0.1 points to 60.5 per cent, its third straight monthly decline. Over the past 12 months, net employment has barely moved, up 17,000 or 0.1 per cent.
The unemployment rate is still lower than a year ago, by 0.2 points, and below the recent high of 6.9 per cent in April. But it has now risen two months in a row, as 33,000 more people searched for work in October.
Harder to find work, and longer searches
Being out of work is lasting longer. Of the 1.5 million people unemployed in October, 23.7 per cent had been looking for work for 27 weeks or more. That’s up from 21.5 per cent a year earlier and well above the 2017–2019 average of 17.2 per cent. Among unemployed people aged 55 and older, close to one in three (32.7 per cent) were long-term unemployed, up from 27.9 per cent a year earlier.
Only 18.9 per cent of people who were unemployed in September had found a job by October. Before the pandemic, the same months averaged 24.6 per cent. Layoffs, however, aren’t driving the increase: the layoff rate held at 0.7 per cent, close to last year’s level.
Young people hit hardest
Youth unemployment jumped 0.7 points to 13.7 per cent, as employment for 15- to 24-year-olds edged down and more of them looked for work. The rate had been roughly stable for the previous three months. Among youth, students had a higher unemployment rate (13.5 per cent) than those not in school (12.3 per cent). These figures are not seasonally adjusted.
For core-aged workers, 25 to 54, unemployment held steady at 5.8 per cent for men and 5.3 per cent for women. For people 55 and older it rose 0.2 points to 5.5 per cent, as employment in that group fell by 14,000.
Public sector up, private sector down
Underneath the flat headline number, the number of private-sector employees fell by 53,000 in October, the first drop since February. Public-sector employment rose by 50,000, after four straight months of losses that had added up to 148,000. Compared with a year ago, there are 70,000 fewer public-sector employees and 35,000 more in the private sector. Self-employment is up 52,000 over the year.
By industry, wholesale and retail trade lost 29,000 jobs in October and is down 113,000 (3.7 per cent) from a year earlier, with most of the yearly losses in Ontario, Quebec and B.C. Construction added 16,000 jobs and is up 47,000 on the year. Educational services added 15,000, recovering part of September’s 35,000 loss.
Average hourly wages were $37.89, up 2.2 per cent from October 2025. That was a little slower than September’s 2.3 per cent increase.
B.C. gains, Alberta loses
British Columbia added 12,000 jobs in October, after losing 20,000 in September. The province’s unemployment rate was 6.3 per cent, little changed from both September and a year earlier.
Alberta lost 24,000 jobs, cancelling out a gain of about the same size in September. Its unemployment rate jumped 0.9 points to 7.3 per cent, though employment there is still up 41,000 from a year ago.
Ontario’s unemployment rate rose 0.3 points to 7.3 per cent as more people looked for work, while employment was flat for a third straight month. In Quebec, employment held steady after a combined loss of 68,000 jobs in August and September. Quebec’s unemployment rate fell to 5.7 per cent because fewer people were looking for work. It’s still up 0.4 points from a year ago, and Quebec has 106,000 fewer jobs than it did 12 months ago.
Among the smaller provinces, Prince Edward Island lost 1,300 jobs and Newfoundland and Labrador gained 2,900. Saskatchewan’s unemployment rate rose 0.5 points to 5.9 per cent.
More households struggling to pay the bills
The October survey also asked about household finances. Just under 30 per cent (29.7 per cent) of Canadians 15 and older lived in a household that had found it difficult to cover transportation, housing, food, clothing and other necessities over the previous four weeks. That’s up 2.0 points from a year earlier, the first increase since the measure peaked at 35.5 per cent in October 2022.
Among the 15 largest metropolitan areas, financial strain was highest in southern Ontario: Oshawa (38.4 per cent), Windsor (36.9 per cent) and Hamilton (35.9 per cent). All three also had unemployment above the national average. The lowest share was in Québec City, at 15.7 per cent.
Single parents were hit hardest. Nearly half (47.2 per cent) of core-aged people in single-parent households reported difficulty meeting their needs, compared with 33.0 per cent of couples with children and 27.3 per cent of couples without children.
Job satisfaction
Asked to rate their job satisfaction from 0 to 10, 60.9 per cent of employed Canadians aged 15 to 69 gave a score of 8 or higher. That’s slightly below 2023’s 62.2 per cent, when the job market was stronger. Satisfaction was lowest among workers under 35 and highest among those 55 to 69 (68.9 per cent). Workers in sales and service jobs were the least satisfied (54.3 per cent), and they also had the lowest average hourly wage of any broad occupational group, at $24.19.
The survey’s reference week was Oct. 11 to 17. November’s figures will be released Dec. 4.
Source: Statistics Canada, “Labour Force Survey, October 2026,” The Daily, Nov. 6, 2026. Figures are seasonally adjusted unless noted.
