Canada employment statistics for September 2020

  • change in employment378.2K vs 150K est
  • full-time employment 334K vs 205.8K est
  • part-time employment 442.K vs 40.0 est
  • unemployment rate 9.0% vs 9.8% est
  • hourly wage rate permanent employees 5.4% vs. 5.6% estimate
  • participation rate 65.0% vs. 64.7%
  • goods producing added 75.1 K vs. 27.6 K last month
  • service producing added 303.1k vs. 205.8K last month
  • private employment rose 259.8 K vs. 275.5 K last month
  • public employment rose 143.6 K vs. 28.3 K last month
  • self-employment fell -25.1 K in September vs. minus 58K in August
  • the labor force rose by 163.9 K in September

Better-than-expected numbers across the board with the bigger rise than expectations in the net change in employment and the sharp decline in the unemployment rate.

net change in jobs

The not so good news is that the unemployment rate still remains well above the levels pre pandemic level but is certainly on a good trajectory.

job gains were driven by educational sector (+68.3K). The trade sector led losses at -2K.