International News

In December, employment was little changed (+8,200; 0.0%) and the employment rate held steady at 60.9%.

The unemployment rate rose 0.3 percentage points to 6.8%, as more people searched for work.

Employment rose among people aged 55 and older (+33,000; +0.8%), while it fell among youth aged 15 to 24 (-27,000; -1.0%).

There were more people working in health care and social assistance (+21,000; +0.7%) as well as in ‘other services’ such as personal and repair services (+15,000; +2.0%). At the same time, fewer people were employed in professional, scientific and technical services (-18,000; -0.9%), accommodation and food services (-12,000; -1.0%), and utilities (-5,300; -3.0%).

Employment was up in Quebec (+16,000; +0.3%) while it fell in Alberta (-14,000; -0.5%) and Saskatchewan (-4,000; -0.6%). There was little employment change in the other provinces.

Average hourly wages among employees increased 3.4% (+$1.23 to $37.06) on a year-over-year basis in December, following growth of 3.6% in November (not seasonally adjusted).

Read Report