Canada’s economy added 22,000 jobs in August, but the country’s unemployment rate rose to 6.6 per cent, its highest non-pandemic level since May of 2017, data released by Statistics Canada on Friday showed.
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The total number of unemployed Canadians rose to 1.5 million, 272,000 more than in August last year.
The jobs gains were made in part-time work (+1.8 per cent), but were offset by losses in full-time work (-0.3 per cent). Private sector employment rose for the first time since April, posting a gain of 38,000 positions, after a loss of 42,000 jobs the previous month. Public sector employment remained unchanged from the previous month.
Average hourly wages rose by five per cent in August, compared to the previous year. This is a slight deceleration from July, when wages grew by 5.2 per cent year over year.
The employment rate, which measures the proportion of the population aged 15 and older who are employed, decreased by 0.1 per cent to 60.8 per cent in August. Notably, the employment rate on a year-over-year basis for youth and core-aged individuals was down, with larger declines among young men (-4.5 per cent) and young women (-3.5 per cent). Statistics Canada suggests this is due to large population growth and no employment growth for young people. The youth unemployment rate rose to 14.5 per cent, the highest level since August of 2012.
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Only 16.7 per cent of those who were unemployed in July, were able to find employment in August, suggesting a challenging job market for most job seekers.
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Sectors with the largest employment gains were educational services (+1.7 per cent) and healthcare and social assistance (+0.9 per cent). The healthcare and social assistance sector employment has grown by 157,000 positions in the past 12 months and accounts for nearly half of all employment growth. Employment fell the most in personal and repair services, dropping 2.3 per cent.
• Email: jgowling@postmedia.com
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