The unemployment rate rose by 0.2 percentage points to reach 5.7% in October in Canada. This is the fourth increase in unemployment in six months in the country.

Another sign of economic slowdown is that fewer jobs were created in the country in October compared to recent months. Statistics Canada indicates that last month, only 18,000 jobs were created, most of them part-time. This net total was 64,000 jobs in September and 40,000 in August.

The sectors that performed best in terms of employment were construction (+23,000 jobs) as well as information, culture, and entertainment, where 21,000 jobs were added last month.

However, these gains were offset by a decrease of 22,000 jobs in wholesale and retail trade as well as in the manufacturing sector where 19,000 jobs were lost.

At the same time, the employment rate—the proportion of working-age population employed—fell by about 0.1 percentage points to 61.9% in October. The indicator showed 62.5% last January.

The situation of young workers did not improve in October according to Statistics Canada, which observed a decline in employment by 0.9 percentage points among those aged 15 to 24, who now have an unemployment rate of 11.4%.

It is also noteworthy that employment increased (+31,000) for the first time since April among men aged 55 and over, and it varied slightly during the period between men and women aged 25 to 54, according to the Statistics Canada report.

Unemployment rates rose in Quebec and Ontario

Quebec experienced the largest increase in the unemployment rate in October, recording a rate of 4.9%, up 0.5 percentage points from September.

Next came Yukon, where the unemployment rate rose by 0.4 percentage points to 4%, then Ontario where the unemployment rate was 6.2% last month, up 0.2 percentage points compared to September.

Conversely, New Brunswick and Saskatchewan saw the largest decreases in unemployment rates in October, dropping by 0.6 and 0.5 percentage points respectively. The unemployment rate is 6.6% in New Brunswick and 4.4% in Saskatchewan.