Canada lost 66,000 jobs in August, marking the second consecutive month of employment decline and pushing the unemployment rate to 7.1 per cent — the highest level since May 2016, according to Statistics Canada.
The job losses were driven primarily by a decline in part-time work, with 60,000 part-time positions eliminated. The employment rate fell 0.2 percentage points to 60.5 per cent, continuing a downward trend that has seen the rate drop 0.6 percentage points since January.
Core-aged workers bore the brunt of the losses, with men aged 25 to 54 losing 58,000 jobs and women in the same age group shedding 35,000 positions. The employment rate for core-aged men fell to 85.8 per cent — the lowest since March 2017, excluding the pandemic years. For core-aged women, the rate dropped to 79.5 per cent, the lowest since August 2018.
Hardest-hit industries and regions
Professional, scientific and technical services led job losses with 26,000 positions eliminated. Transportation and warehousing lost 23,000 jobs, while manufacturing shed 19,000 positions. Construction bucked the trend with a gain of 17,000 jobs.
Ontario recorded the largest provincial decline with 26,000 jobs lost, followed by British Columbia with 16,000 and Alberta with 14,000. The uncertainty has been particularly acute in Southern Ontario, where regions face economic pressure from threatened or imposed tariffs on motor vehicle and parts exports.
Windsor recorded the highest unemployment rate among Canada’s 20 largest metropolitan areas at 11.1 per cent, up from 9.1 per cent in January. Oshawa followed at 9.0 per cent and Toronto at 8.9 per cent.
Student job market remains challenging
The summer job market for returning students continued to struggle, with unemployment among this group reaching 16.9 per cent in August. The rate has climbed steadily from 10.4 per cent in summer 2022 to 17.9 per cent for the entire summer of 2025 — the highest since 2009, excluding the pandemic year.
Only 15.2 per cent of people who were unemployed in July found work in August, well below the 23.3 per cent rate observed in the same period from 2017 to 2019.
Wage growth and worker preferences
Average hourly wages increased 3.2 per cent year-over-year to $36.31, down slightly from July’s 3.3 per cent growth rate.
Nearly one in 10 workers — 8.8 per cent — reported they would prefer to work more hours for the same pay rate. This time-related underemployment was highest in Newfoundland and Labrador at 11.3 per cent, followed by Ontario at 9.6 per cent and Alberta at 9.4 per cent.
Among workers holding multiple jobs, one-third cited the need to pay for essential needs as their primary reason, while another third sought extra income beyond their main job.
The participation rate, which measures the proportion of working-age people employed or seeking work, fell 0.1 percentage points to 65.1 per cent in August.
Unemployment rate by province
Here are the jobless rates last month by province (numbers from the previous month in brackets):
• Newfoundland and Labrador 10.7 per cent (10.5)
• Prince Edward Island 8.1 per cent (8.8)
• Nova Scotia 6.5 per cent (7.0)
• New Brunswick 7.7 per cent (7.5)
• Quebec 6.0 per cent (5.5)
• Ontario 7.7 per cent (7.9)
• Manitoba 5.7 per cent (5.5)
• Saskatchewan 4.7 per cent (5.0)
• Alberta 8.4 per cent (7.8)
• British Columbia 6.2 per cent (5.9)
Unemployment rate by city
Here are the jobless rates last month by city (numbers from the previous month in brackets):
• St. John’s, N.L. 7.0 per cent (6.7)
• Halifax 5.7 per cent (5.4)
• Moncton, N.B. 7.1 per cent (6.7)
• Saint John, N.B. 7.6 per cent (7.3)
• Fredericton 5.9 per cent (5.9)
• Saguenay, Que. 4.0 per cent (4.0)
• Quebec City 4.4 per cent (4.7)
• Sherbrooke, Que. 5.4 per cent (5.0)
• Trois-Rivières, Que. 5.6 per cent (5.6)
• Drummondville, Que. 5.8 per cent (6.3)
• Montreal 6.8 per cent (6.7)
• Gatineau, Que. 6.6 per cent (6.6)
• Ottawa 6.8 per cent (6.4)
• Kingston, Ont. 6.8 per cent (6.8)
• Belleville-Quinte West, Ont. 7.5 per cent (7.2)
• Peterborough, Ont. 6.1 per cent (7.7)
• Oshawa, Ont. 9.0 per cent (9.7)
• Toronto 8.9 per cent (9.0)
• Hamilton, Ont. 6.9 per cent (6.3)
• St. Catharines-Niagara, Ont. 7.0 per cent (6.9)
• Kitchener-Cambridge-Waterloo, Ont. 7.1 per cent (7.3)
• Brantford, Ont. 9.4 per cent (7.8)
• Guelph, Ont. 8.7 per cent (7.2)
• London, Ont. 6.1 per cent (6.5)
• Windsor, Ont. 11.1 per cent (10.2)
• Barrie, Ont. 7.0 per cent (6.5)
• Greater Sudbury, Ont. 6.4 per cent (5.7)
• Thunder Bay, Ont. 5.0 per cent (5.2)
• Winnipeg 6.2 per cent (5.8)
• Regina 5.9 per cent (5.6)
• Saskatoon 5.0 per cent (4.5)
• Lethbridge, Alta. 6.7 per cent (5.7)
• Calgary 7.7 per cent (7.7)
• Red Deer, Alta. 6.7 per cent (5.4)
• Edmonton 8.5 per cent (7.9)
• Kelowna, B.C. 4.1 per cent (4.7)
• Kamloops, B.C. 10.3 per cent (10.7)
• Chilliwack, B.C. 6.1 per cent (5.6)
• Abbotsford-Mission, B.C. 6.8 per cent (6.4)
• Vancouver 6.1 per cent (6.1)
• Victoria 5.1 per cent (4.8)
• Nanaimo, B.C. 8.5 per cent (7.8)
with files from the Canadian Press
