Toronto 
Canada’s job market strengthened in October, with employment increasing by 67,000 positions, a 0.3% gain, says Statistics Canada.
Unemployment rate by province and territory, October 2025/Credit: Statistics Canada/Source(s): Labour Force Survey (3701), tables 14-10-0287-02 and 14-10-0292-02.
This marks the second consecutive monthly rise. The employment rate edged up to 60.8%, while the unemployment rate fell 0.2 percentage points to 6.9%, reversing some of the declines seen earlier this year.
According to Statistics Canada, employment growth was mainly driven by men aged 25 to 54 (+33,000; +0.5%) and youth aged 15 to 24 (+21,000; +0.8%). Job gains were concentrated in wholesale and retail trade (+41,000; +1.4%), transportation and warehousing (+30,000; +2.8%), information, culture and recreation (+25,000; +3.0%), and utilities (+7,600; +4.6%). Employment in construction declined by 15,000 (-0.9%).
Most of the October increase came from part-time work (+85,000; +2.3%), following a rise in full-time employment in September. The private sector added 73,000 jobs (+0.5%), while public sector and self-employment levels were largely unchanged.
By province, Ontario led job creation with 55,000 new positions (+0.7%), followed by Newfoundland and Labrador (+4,400; +1.8%). Employment fell in Nova Scotia (-4,400; -0.8%) and Manitoba (-4,000; -0.5%). Quebec’s employment levels remained steady, with its unemployment rate easing to 5.3%.
Despite employment gains, total hours worked edged down 0.2% due to labour disputes affecting about 87,000 employees, particularly in Alberta’s education sector.
Average hourly wages rose 3.5% year-over-year, reaching $37.06, up $1.27 from October 2024. Over the past two months, employment has grown by 127,000 jobs, offsetting losses from the summer.
