Canadian employers cut 26,200 payroll positions in November, offsetting the previous month’s gain, while average weekly earnings continued climbing amid a cooling labour market.
The decline in payroll employment represented a 0.1% drop from October, when the country added 11,900 jobs, according to Statistics Canada data released Jan. 29. Despite the monthly loss, payroll employment remained up 0.3% compared to November 2024.
Average weekly earnings rose 2.5% year-over-year to $1,317 in November, up from 2.0% growth in October. The data reflects pay and benefits received by employees tracked through the Survey of Employment, Payrolls and Hours.
Retail and manufacturing lead job losses
Ten of 20 sectors recorded payroll employment declines in November. Retail trade led the losses with 4,700 fewer positions, followed by manufacturing at 4,200, accommodation and food services at 3,600, and arts, entertainment and recreation at 2,700.
Retail trade has shed 14,600 jobs since June, driven by losses in clothing and accessories retailers and sporting goods stores. Year-over-year, the sector is down 30,700 positions, with food and beverage retailers and general merchandise stores accounting for most of the decline.
Manufacturing continued a downward trend that began in January 2025, losing 38,100 jobs over 11 months. Transportation equipment manufacturing, food manufacturing, and chemical manufacturing led the sector’s cumulative decline.
Accommodation and food services recorded its third consecutive monthly drop, losing 9,000 positions since September. Full-service restaurants and limited-service eating places accounted for 73.2% of the sector’s year-over-year decline of 10,500 jobs.
Healthcare sector bucks trend
Health care and social assistance added 2,000 positions in November, extending a growth pattern that has seen the sector gain 266,000 jobs since September 2022. General medical and surgical hospitals, child day-care services, and home health care services led recent gains.
Job vacancies hold steady at 472,100
Canada had 472,100 vacant positions in November, essentially unchanged from October. The figure represents a 12.5% decline from November 2024, when 67,200 more vacancies existed.
The job vacancy rate held at 2.6%, down 0.4 percentage points from the previous year. The unemployment-to-job-vacancy ratio dropped slightly to 3.2 unemployed persons per vacancy from 3.3 in October.
Finance and insurance recorded the largest increase in job vacancies, adding 5,100 positions. Construction saw the steepest decline, losing 4,800 vacancies to reach its lowest level since August 2018.
Year-over-year vacancy decreases concentrated in health care and social assistance, accommodation and food services, and construction, which together represented 58.6% of the total decline.
Regional variations show B.C., Ontario hardest hit
British Columbia led provincial job vacancy declines with 25,200 fewer positions year-over-year, followed by Ontario at 24,800 and Quebec at 10,900.
Newfoundland and Labrador had the highest unemployment-to-job-vacancy ratio at 5.4, while Quebec recorded the lowest at 2.2. Ontario’s ratio stood at 4.2 in November.
Average weekly hours worked remained little changed month-over-month at 33.3 hours but declined 0.6% compared to November 2024.
