Canada's hiring market is not frozen, but it is no longer behaving like a labour market under broad, accelerating pressure. Statistics Canada reported on September 25 that payroll employment rose by 26,100 in July, an increase of 0.1 per cent. Average weekly earnings reached $1,347, up 3.2 per cent from a year earlier. At the same time, the country had 501,000 job vacancies, marking a seventh consecutive month of little change. The August Labour Force Survey added another signal. Employment fell by 42,000 in the month while the unemployment rate held at 6.4 per cent. Average hourly wages were up 2.0 per cent from a year earlier, the slowest pace since November 2017 outside the pandemic period. Taken together, the figures describe a labour market that is still moving but with less generalized wage and vacancy pressure than employers faced in the tightest post pandemic period. Hiring conditions are becoming more uneven The national numbers hide large differences by industry and location.
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