The Canadian economy added 83,000 jobs in the month of June — the first substantial jump since January — while unemployment fell slightly by 0.1 percentage points, according to Statistics Canada.
The vast majority of those jobs were part time, the agency said Friday, with 47,000 positions added in the private sector.
Employment has either remained relatively flat or dropped since January of this year, when the economy added 76,000 new jobs.
June also marked the first decrease in unemployment since January. The employment rate had previously declined by 0.3 percentage points between March and April, and held steady in May, according to Statistics Canada.
The wholesale and retail trade industry, as well as health care and social assistance, saw the biggest influx of jobs. Most other industries held steady in the number of people they employed — though the agriculture sector dropped a few thousand jobs.
The numbers came as a positive surprise; a poll by Reuters of economists heading into Friday’s release predicted that unemployment would rise to 7.1 per cent, and employment would remain flat.
Nathan Janzen, an economist at RBC, said the growth in jobs points to a “bounce-back” in attitude among businesses, after tariff-related fears chilled hiring earlier in the spring. Though, he adds, Trump’s most recent threat to tariff all Canadian goods at 35 per cent means that trade risks remain.
Over the long term, however, the unemployment data still paints a negative picture. Some 1.6 million people were still unemployed last month, and more than one in five people without jobs have been searching for work for 27 weeks or more — up 4.1 percentage points from last year.
For students looking for work over the summer, the unemployment rate is still elevated: 17.4 per cent — up from 15.8 per cent compared to June 2024. Statistics Canada says that’s the highest unemployment rate for the month of June since 2009, excluding pandemic years, when unemployment was particularly high.
Statistics Canada said student unemployment was at a three-year high heading into the summer job season. CBC’s Jayden Dill spoke to young people and employers about the search for work.
Despite some blemishes, like the fact that most of the jobs added were part-time ones, there were positive signals overall, said Benjamin Reitzes, managing director of Canadian rates and macro strategist at BMO — especially given the declines economists were expecting.
“No matter how you slice things, this report is materially better than expected,” Reitzes said in a note.
And while the numbers showed an image of an economy that was “hanging in there for now,” Reitzes said ongoing tariff turbulence could change things quickly going forward.