As per Statistics Canada’s Labour Force Survey (December 2022), employment in Canada rose 0.5 percentage points (+104,000 jobs), while the national unemployment rate fell to 5.0% (-0.1% month-over-month.
Canadian Employment Trends
It is not uncommon for immigrants to come to this country in search of higher-paying, more stable jobs. A study conducted by the Canadian Labour Force Survey for December 2022 revealed that, across Canada, the average hourly wages of employees have grown at a healthy rate – and have remained above 5% for the past seven consecutive months. The wage has also increased by 5.1% year over year.
As well as the increase in average hourly wages across Canada, it is also worth pointing out that the number of employees in the private sector has increased by 112,000 in December, a significant contribution to Canada’s employment boom. The past month has been a relatively non-factor for self-employment and public-sector employment.
Additionally, employment outcomes improved across several age groups in Canada as well. For example, the number of people aged 15 to 24 who worked in Canada increased by 69,000 (+2.7%), while the number of people 55 and older who worked in Canada also increased by 31,000 (+31,000 jobs.
An Analysis of Employment Trends by Industry Can be Found Below
It is estimated that the total number of jobs in the healthcare and social assistance industry fell by 17,000 jobs (a drop of 0.7%) over the month of December. It is also estimated that employment has grown in each of the following seven industries in the same time frame since the last Labour Force Survey.
Construction: The construction industry in Canada increased its employment by 35,000 jobs in December 2022, which represents a 2.3% increase over December 2021.
Transportation and Warehousing: In December of this year, employment in the transportation and warehousing industry in this country increased by 29,000 jobs (3.0%).
The Information, Culture, and Recreation industry were up by 3.1% from the end of 2017 to the end of 2022 across Canada, with 25,000 more jobs being added in this industry.
Services in the Professional, Scientific, and Technical sector: Employment in this sector has increased by over 1% (+1.3%) as the number of people working in this sector has grown by 23,000 people.
Accommodation and food services industry: The number of people working in the accommodation and food services industry has increased by 13,000 compared to the previous month (+1.2%).
Public administration sector: An increase of 11,000 jobs has been recorded in the public administration sector between November and December of 2022, which represents a 0.9% increase in employment in this sector.
Other Services: There are 10,000 more people working in this industry today as compared to the month prior (+1.3%).
Trends in Employment by Provinces and Territories
There was an increase in employment in six different provinces during December 2022: Ontario, Alberta, British Colum Canadian Employment Rose bia, Manitoba, Newfoundland and Labrador, and Saskatchewan.
In Ontario, the number of jobs added was 42,000 (+0.5%) in December, an increase of 1.4% YOY. The unemployment rate for the province as a whole increased to 5.3% at the end of 2022, a decline of 0.8% YOY.
In Alberta, employment rose by 25,000 jobs (+1.0%) on a year-over-year basis in December, although the unemployment rate for the month remained steady at 5.8%. On a year-over-year basis, employment increased by 3.9% – and the unemployment rate was down 1.7 percentage points – YOY.
Listed below are the results for December 2022 for the four remaining provinces that were mentioned in the previous section:
British Columbia: The number of jobs added by the government in December 2022 was 17,000, an increase of 0.6%, while the unemployment rate remained relatively steady at 4.2%.
Manitoba: The number of jobs in Manitoba rose by 1% in December (7,000 jobs), while the unemployment rate for the province remained the same at 4.4% for the month.
Saskatchewan: The employment rate in Saskatchewan increased by 4,200 jobs (+0.7%) in December, while the unemployment rate stayed relatively unchanged at 4.1%, which was down from 4.2% in November.
Newfoundland and Labrador: There was a slight growth in employment in Newfoundland and Labrador (NL) in December of 2022, rising by nearly three percent (+2.9%). However, NL had the highest unemployment rate of any of the 10 Canadian provinces (10.1%).
Note: The employment results in the other four provinces of Canada remained relatively steady to the end of 2022, but Labour Force Survey did indicate that unemployment in Quebec in December 2022 was 4%. As a result, employment in Quebec increased by 1.8% year over year and unemployment fell 0.7% year over year.
Among the three territories of Canada that provide quarterly employment reports, Yukon’s unemployment rate rose to 4.8% (+2.3%) in Q4 2022, which was the only notable increase across all three territories. In general, employment and unemployment rates remained relatively stable across all three regions over the past quarter.
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