Another 66,000 jobs disappeared in Canada in August, coming on top of a loss of 41,000 jobs in July.
Canadian economy bled 66,000 jobs in August as unemployment rate at its highest since 'pandemic days' | CBC News - Abby Hughes:
September 5, 2025 - "Canada's unemployment rate reached nearly its highest point since 2016 as the economy shed 66,000 jobs in August, according to new data from Statistics Canada. The unemployment rate rose 0.2 percentage points in August to 7.1 per cent, a level last seen in May 2016 if the COVID-19 years of 2020 and 2021 were excluded....
"The unemployment rate, or the number of people unemployed out of the total labour force, has been rising consistently this year, up from a 6.6 per cent rate in January....
"Reduced hiring and layoffs largely fuelled those numbers, Statistics Canada said, with the layoff rate rising to one per cent in August, compared to 0.9 per cent at the same time last year.
"This comes after the economy lost a total of 41,000 jobs last month.....
"Statistics Canada says most of the jobs lost — some 60,000 — were part-time ones, while there was little change in the number of full-time jobs. Most of the losses were also among workers between 25 to 54 years old, with little change in youth employment....
"Pedro Antunes, Chief Economist at The Conference Board of Canada, says the report overall is bad news. He points out that while youth unemployment also remained high in August, that age group had previously made up more of the drag on jobs. But now, the losses in August were among the core age group in the workforce....
"A critical metric, called the participation rate, that shows how many people were economically active — either in jobs or actively looking for them — was at 65.1 per cent, also at its lowest since the pandemic.
"The transportation and warehousing sector lost 23,000 jobs and manufacturing bled 19,000. The scientific and technical services sector also dropped 26,000 jobs... Geographically, Canada's manufacturing hubs were also hit harder, with Windsor, Ont., reporting an unemployment rate of 11.1 per cent and Oshawa, Ont., reporting a nine per cent rate. Persistent uncertainty around U.S. trade policy has kept Canadian businesses on tenterhooks, leading to minimal hiring and investment....
"Chief economist at BMO Capital Markets Douglas Porter said ... the weak report could open the door to rate cuts by the Bank of Canada later this month though with inflation remaining high, that factor hasn't given them the 'all clear'.... Porter expects a rate cut when the central bank announces its next interest rate decision on Sept. 17."
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