The unemployment rate fell by 0.1% in Canada in December, to reach 6.7%. In Quebec, the unemployment rate fell even further, from 5.9% to 5.6%.
Posted at 8:41 a.m.
Updated at 9:18 a.m.
After adding 51,000 jobs in November, the economy created 91,000 jobs in December, Statistics Canada reported, a number higher than expected. In 2024, even at a slow pace, the Canadian economy continued to add jobs at the same rate as in 2023.
At the end of 2024, there were 413,000 more jobs in Canada, or 2.1% more than in 2023. Over the past year, the Canadian unemployment rate has increased by 0.9%.
The unexpected 0.1% drop in the unemployment rate in December is explained by a slowdown in population growth. “The third quarter of 2024 shows the lowest quarterly population growth since the first quarter of 2022,” specifies Statistics Canada.
Jobs created in December were mainly in the education and health care and social assistance sectors. Half of the jobs created in 2024 were in these two sectors.
In Quebec, over the past year, the economy has created 53,000 jobs. The unemployment rate fell in Montreal, from 6.9% in November to 6.4% in December. It also fell in Toronto, from 9.2% to 8.6%.
Average hourly wage growth slowed to 3.8%, after increasing 4.1% in November. The growth rate of average hourly wages peaked at 5.8% in November 2022, before varying around 5% thereafter.
Risky jobs
As the threat of American tariffs looms over the Canadian economy, Statistics Canada estimates that 8.8% of the country’s jobs depend on exports to the United States.
Unsurprisingly, it is in Alberta’s oil sector that jobs are most closely linked to American demand. Pipeline transportation, primary metal manufacturing and transportation equipment manufacturing are the sectors that would be most affected by potential U.S. tariffs.
The regions most at risk are Wood Buffalo-Cold Lake, Alberta, with 22.8% of jobs linked to exports to the United States, and Centre-du-Québec, with 17.8% of jobs at risk. specifies Statistics Canada.
Jobs that depend on U.S. demand offer above-average wages, the federal agency says. In 2024, the average salary of employees working in export-related industries stood at $37.24, or 6.5% more than the salary of employees in other industries.
