Investing.com — Canada saw employment increase by 91,000 (+0.4%) in December, and the employment rate rose 0.2 percentage points to 60.8%. The unemployment rate also recorded a slight decrease of 0.1 percentage point to 6.7%.
It is noticeable that employment has increased for men aged 25 to 54 and those aged 55 and over, as well as for women aged 55 and over. In terms of sectors, employment growth in December was led by educational services, transportation and storage, finance, insurance, real estate, rental and leasing, and health care and social assistance.
Geographically, employment increased in Alberta, Ontario, British Columbia, Nova Scotia and Saskatchewan, while Manitoba saw a decline. The total number of working hours increased by 0.5% in December and by 2.1% compared to the previous year. Average hourly wages among employees rose 3.8% (+$1.32 to $35.77) from a year ago in December.
The year 2024 ended with 413,000 (+2.0%) more people employed in December compared to 12 months earlier. This year-on-year growth rate was comparable to that recorded in December 2023 (+2.1%) and the average growth rate for December in the period before the COVID-19 pandemic from 2017 to 2019 (+1.9%).
Public sector employment rose by 40,000 (+0.9%) in December, the second consecutive monthly increase. Private sector employment was little changed in December (+27,000; +0.2%) and rose by 191,000 (+1.4%) year-on-year. The number of self-employed persons increased in December by 24,000 (+0.9%), which is the first increase since February. This led to a total increase in self-employment for the year to 64,000 (+2.4%).
The employment rate increased by 0.2 percentage points to 60.8% in December, after remaining stable in November. The increase in December was the first since January 2023. On an annual basis, the employment rate in December fell by 0.9 percentage points.
Employment rose by 30,000 (+0.4%) among prime-age men (ages 25 to 54) in December, following a gain of 45,000 in November. The increase in December lifted the employment rate of prime-age men by 0.2 percentage points to 86.7%. Employment of primary-age women was almost unchanged in December, and the employment rate for this group remained stable at 80.1%.
Among people aged 55 and older, employment increased in December for both men (+41,000; +1.7%) and women (+21,000; +1.1%). For men in this age group, the increase was the first since January. On a year-over-year basis, employment was little changed in December for both men and women age 55 and older.
The unemployment rate in December was 6.7%, which is a drop of 0.1 percentage point compared to the previous month. November’s rate was the highest since January 2017 (outside of 2020 and 2021, during the pandemic). On the annual level, the unemployment rate in December increased by 0.9 percentage points.
Average hourly wages among employees rose 3.8% (+$1.32 to $35.77) year over year in December, after rising 4.1% in November and 4.9% in October (non-seasonally adjusted ).
Employment rose by 17,000 (+1.1%) in December in education services — the second consecutive monthly gain — and in health care and social assistance (+16,000; +0.5%). Over the 12 months to 2024, growth in health and social care (+130,000; +4.8%) and education services (+71,000; +4.7%) together accounted for nearly half of employment growth across all industries.
Employment in transportation and warehousing rose by 17,000 (+1.6%) in December, recovering from a similar-sized decline in November. A small change in employment in the industry was recorded on an annual basis.
In December, employment increased in finance, insurance, rental and leasing of real estate (+16,000; +1.1%), the first significant increase since August 2024. On a year-over-year basis, employment in the industry increased by 85,000 (+ 6 .2%).
In Alberta, employment rose by 35,000 (+1.4%) in December, building on gains recorded in three of the previous four months. The employment rate increased by 0.7 percentage points to 64.8 percent, and the unemployment rate fell by 0.8 percentage points to 6.7 percent. In the 12 months to December 2024, employment grew by 4.0% (+100,000) in Alberta, twice as much as Canada as a whole (+2.0%; +413,000).
In Ontario, employment rose by 23,000 (+0.3%) in December, after two months of little change. In the 12 months to December, employment in the province increased by 2.6% (+205,000). The province’s unemployment rate remained steady at 7.5% in December and rose 1.2 percentage points year-over-year.
Employment in British Columbia rose by 14,000 (+0.5%) in December. Despite the increase in employment, the unemployment rate rose 0.3 percentage points to 6.0% in the month, as more people participated in the labor force. On an annual basis, employment in the province was largely unchanged.
Employment also rose in December in Nova Scotia (+7,400; +1.4%) and Saskatchewan (+4,000; +0.7%), with unemployment rates in both provinces little changed at 6.3% in Nova Scotia and 5.9% in Saskatchewan.
Manitoba (-7,200; -1.0%) was the only province with a decline in employment in December, with the province’s unemployment rate rising 0.4 percentage points to 6.2%.
Employment was little changed in Quebec, following an increase in November. With fewer people looking for work, the unemployment rate fell by 0.3 percentage points to 5.6%. Compared to December 2023, the unemployment rate in Quebec increased by 0.9 percentage points and the employment rate fell by 0.9 percentage points to 61.0%.
In 2024, about 1.8 million people, representing 8.8% of total employment, worked in industries where 35% or more of jobs depended on US demand for Canadian exports. These industries were identified using the latest available estimates of value added in exports from the System of Macroeconomic Accounts.
Industries with the largest share of demand-driven employment in the US included oil and gas extraction, pipeline transportation, primary metal production, and transportation equipment manufacturing.
Among the 2024 economic regions, Wood Buffalo-Cold Lake, Alberta had the largest share of employment in industries dependent on US demand for Canadian exports. Other economic regions with above-average shares of employment in these industries in 2024 included Centre-du-Québec, Edmundston-Woodstock, New Brunswick (NYSE: ), Southern Nova Scotia, Banff-Jasper-Rocky Mountain House and Athabasca-Grande Prairie-Peace River , Alberta and Windsor-Sarnia, Ontario.
In 2024, workers with a high school diploma or less and those with less than a college degree are more likely to work in industries that depend on U.S. demand for Canadian exports than those with a bachelor’s degree or higher. level of education. Men were also more likely to work in these industries than women.
Employees in industries that depend on American demand for Canadian exports tend to pay above-average wages. In 2024, the average hourly wage for employees working in these industries was $37.24, which is 6.5% higher than for employees in other industries.
A total of 675,000 Canadians, or 2.3% of the population aged 15 to 69, performed paid work through a digital platform in the 12 months ending December 2024, providing services, renting accommodation, goods or equipment, or selling goods through websites or applications that coordinated their work activities or managed payments. This includes 498,000 Canadians who provided services through digital platforms. The most common services included delivery of food or other goods, personal transportation, and content creation, such as videos or podcasts.
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