Canada's labour market rebounds sharply in May

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Canada's labour market rebounds sharply in May

Unemployment falls to 6.6% as construction, transportation and summer hiring lead rebound: StatCan



Canada's labour market rebounds sharply in May

By Louise Smith
Jun 05, 2026

Canada's labour market rebounded sharply in May, adding 88,000 jobs and pushing the unemployment rate down to 6.6%, according to Statistics Canada's latest Labour Force Survey released Friday.

The gain marks the first significant employment increase since November 2025, and comes after a net loss of 112,000 jobs over the first four months of the year. ... On a year-over-year basis, employment was up 147,000, or 0.7%. The employment rate — the share of the population aged 15 and older who are employed — rose 0.2 percentage points to 60.7%, also the first increase since November.

The employment situation showed a nice rebound in May, reversing a weak start to the year, says Brendon Bernard, senior economist at Indeed Canada. ... "Not only did full-time employment and hours worked jump, but gains were encouragingly broad-based across industries," he says.

The strong numbers are a good reminder of how a "brewing trend" in the Labour Force Survey can reverse with just one data release, according to Bernard.

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[mahatmakanejeeves]

1. From the source:

Labour Force Survey, May 2026

Released: 2026-06-05

Highlights
Employment increased by 88,000 (+0.4%) in May and the employment rate rose 0.2 percentage points to 60.7%. The unemployment rate fell 0.3 percentage points to 6.6%.

Employment increased among core-aged (25 to 54 years old) women (+31,000; +0.5%), core-aged men (+25,000; +0.3%), and youth aged 15 to 24 (+22,000; +0.8%).

The unemployment rate for youth declined 0.9 percentage points to 13.4%. The rate also fell among core-aged women (-0.4 percentage points to 5.5%) and core-aged men (-0.4 percentage points to 5.7%).

Employment increased in several industries, most notably in construction (+27,000; +1.7%), information, culture and recreation (+19,000; +2.3%), transportation and warehousing (+19,000; +1.7%) and accommodation and food services (+17,000; +1.5%). On the other hand, employment decreased in wholesale and retail trade (-35,000; -1.2%).

Employment rose in Ontario (+42,000; +0.5%), British Columbia (+25,000; +0.9%), Alberta (+14,000; +0.5%) and Prince Edward Island (+1,200; +1.3%), while it fell in Saskatchewan (-6,100; -1.0%).

Average hourly wages among employees increased 3.0% (+$1.10 to $37.24) on a year-over-year basis in May, following growth of 4.5% in April (not seasonally adjusted).

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Next release
The next release of the LFS will be on July 10, 2026. June 2026 data will reflect labour market conditions during the week of June 14 to 20.