The unemployment rate in Canada fell to 6.6% in May of 2026 from 6.9% in the previous month, the lowest since January and firmly below market expectations that it would remain at 6.9%. The result reflected some fresh resilience in the Canadian labor market after concerns that high energy prices, restrictive interest rates, and tariff exchanges with the US would hamper the domestic job market. The number of unemployed people fell by 84,000 to 1,482,400, with reductions seen for both core aged women and core aged men. In the meantime, net employment surged by 87,800 to 21,121,500, well above market expectations of a 10,000 increase to mark the sharpest job growth since December of 2024. A large portion of the gain in net employment was through job gains on the unemployed population, as the labor force participation rate remained unchanged from the previous month at 65%. source: Statistics Canada
Unemployment Rate in Canada decreased to 6.60 percent in May from 6.90 percent in April of 2026. Unemployment Rate in Canada averaged 7.55 percent from 1966 until 2026, reaching an all time high of 14.20 percent in May of 2020 and a record low of 2.90 percent in June of 1966. This page provides - Canada Unemployment Rate - actual values, historical data, forecast, chart, statistics, economic calendar and news. Canada Unemployment Rate - data, historical chart, forecasts and calendar of releases - was last updated on June of 2026.
Unemployment Rate in Canada decreased to 6.60 percent in May from 6.90 percent in April of 2026. Unemployment Rate in Canada is expected to be 7.00 percent by the end of this quarter, according to Trading Economics global macro models and analysts expectations. In the long-term, the Canada Unemployment Rate is projected to trend around 7.30 percent in 2027 and 7.10 percent in 2028, according to our econometric models.