Canada Gained 14K Jobs in March; Unemployment Unchanged at 6.7 Percent

Canada’s unemployment rate remained unchanged at 6.7 percent despite the economy adding 14,000 jobs last month, according to the latest data from Statistics Canada.

While employment and unemployment both held steady in March, this follows a cumulative loss of 109,000 jobs over the first two months of the year, including a decline of 84,000 in February alone.

The latest unemployment rate follows a 0.2 percentage point increase in February to 6.7 percent. It had previously peaked at 7.1 percent in August and September.

Unemployment remained “virtually unchanged” last month among those aged 25 to 54 at 5.8 percent, as well as among those 55 years and older at 4.9 percent, according to the StatCan report released April 10. Youth unemployment was also “little changed” last month at 13.8 percent, following an increase of 1.3 percentage points in February.

The increase in jobs mostly came from those in the “other services” category, including repair and maintenance services. Employment also increased in the natural resources sector, with more than half of the gains coming from Alberta, the agency said.

Meanwhile, employment declined in the finance, insurance, real estate, rental, and leasing sectors.

While health care and social assistance jobs were “little changed” in March, the sector gained 94,000 jobs on a year-over-year basis, representing the largest employment growth among all industries. The largest year-over-year employment decline in March was in manufacturing, which shed 44,000 jobs.

Employees’ average hourly wages increased by 4.7 percent in March compared to the same month last year, which is the highest growth rate since October 2024, StatCan said. Comparatively, average hourly wage increases on a year-over-year basis were between 3.2 and 3.9 percent from January 2025 to February 2026.

Canadians aged 55 and older experienced the highest year-over-year wage increases in March, while those aged 15 to 24 had the lowest.

StatCan found the recent increases in average hourly wages were in part due to a “shift in the composition of employment.”

Regional Differences

British Columbia shed 19,000 jobs in March, following a decline of 20,000 jobs in February, the agency said. The unemployment rate in the province increased 0.6 percentage points to 6.7 percent last month, representing the highest rate in the province since February 2016, excluding the pandemic years.

Meanwhile, employment increased in Manitoba and Saskatchewan last month, following previous declines in both provinces. The unemployment rate in Manitoba held steady at 5.6 percent, while Saskatchewan’s unemployment rate fell 0.6 percentage points in March to 5 percent, which is the lowest unemployment rate among the provinces.

Employment also increased in Nova Scotia and the province’s unemployment rate fell 0.5 percentage points to 6.6 percent.

Employment held steady in Ontario and Quebec in March, following declines of 67,000 jobs in Ontario in January and 57,000 in Quebec in February. Ontario’s unemployment rate remained unchanged at 7.6 percent last month, while Quebec’s rate fell 0.5 percentage points to 5.4 percent.

Conservative MP and employment critic Garnett Genuis says StatCan’s latest report shows the “persistence” of elevated unemployment rates in Canada.

“What we see in today’s numbers is the persistence of high unemployment rates, especially for people, across the country, and fairly little change from the losses we saw in January and February,” Genuis said in a video posted on social media on April 10.

StatCan’s latest job data comes as the Bank of Canada is set to release its next interest rate decision on April 29. The Bank held its benchmark interest rate steady at 2.25 percent in March.