Employment in rural and small town Canada fell by 130,300 jobs in December 2025 compared with a year earlier, a decline of 4.7 per cent, according to Statistics Canada.
The unemployment rate in rural and small town areas increased from 5.4 per cent to 6.0 per cent over the same period, based on unadjusted data.
Industry changes
Employment grew in wholesale and retail trade (up 20,400 or 5.5 per cent), finance, insurance, real estate, rental and leasing (up 4,600 or 5.0 per cent) and utilities (up 1,100 or 3.9 per cent) from December 2024 to December 2025.
The largest year-over-year declines occurred in health care and social assistance (down 31,300 or 8.0 per cent), professional, scientific and technical services (down 27,600 or 19.4 per cent) and accommodation and food services (down 15,200 or 10.9 per cent).
Regional unemployment shifts
Rural and small town areas of Ontario saw the unemployment rate increase by 2.3 percentage points to 6.3 per cent, while British Columbia increased by 2.2 percentage points to 5.3 per cent.
Rural and small town areas of Prince Edward Island recorded an unemployment rate of 10.0 per cent, down 4.3 percentage points from a year earlier. Manitoba’s rural unemployment rate fell 2.5 percentage points to 3.9 per cent over the same period.
The data is based on the Labour Force Survey and covers the population aged 15 years and over. The estimates are not seasonally adjusted.
