Canada’s unemployment rate rose 0.2 per cent in April as the country lost around 18,000 jobs and more people looked for work.
Younger Canadians, though, saw unemployment rise by a larger margin than the overall rate, Statistics Canada shows, as the rate for Canadians aged 15 to 24 rose by half a percentage point to 14.3 per cent.
While youth unemployment rose 1.3 percentage points in February to 13.8 per cent, it was unchanged in March. In April, the figure was at 14.3 per cent and hovered close to the recent high of 14.6 per cent in September 2025.
For core-aged men, aged 25 to 54, unemployment rose 0.3 per cent to 6.1 per cent, while for women in the same age group, it was unchanged at 5.9 per cent.
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Among people aged 55 years and older, the unemployment rate was unchanged at 4.9 per cent in April.
The percentage of people who had been searching for work for a period of 27 weeks or more rose to 22.5 per cent in April, still significantly higher than the pre-COVID-19 pandemic average of 17.1 per cent from 2017 to 2019.
Full-time employment fell 0.3 per cent in April and part-time employment rose 0.8 per cent, Statistics Canada said.
Canada’s jobs market remains “underwhelming,” said Canadian Chamber of Commerce economist Anupriya Gangopadhyay.
Seeing a decline in full-time work and a rise in part-time work “should give us pause,” she said.
“This full-time displacement trend is something we will continue to watch closely to see if it becomes structural, given it’s not the signal of resilience that businesses and economic observers are looking for,” she added.
A silver lining for the Canadian job market was the decline in permanent layoffs, said RBC economist Claire Fan in a note on Friday.
“Hours worked remained essentially flat, and the labour force participation rate increased. Critically, and consistent with earlier trends, rising unemployment was driven not by layoffs but by weak hiring,” she said.
The uptick in employment numbers in March was an aberration, said BMO chief economist Doug Porter.
“The underlying tone in Canada’s job market remains quite sour so far in 2026, as the uptick in March jobs proved to be a false dawn,” he said in a note.
Economists expect the Bank of Canada to continue holding interest rates.
“While the geopolitical situation in the Middle East remains unresolved and oil market volatility is high, today’s report is going to give the doves around the table in Governing Council more ammunition to keep rates unchanged,” said KPMG chief economist Ali Jaffery.
All thanks to that P.O.S J.T
All thanks to that P.OS J.T
Any fast-food/retail hiring foreigners when youth unemployment is this high ought to be ashamed of themselves.
“But they work harder than youth and are more reliable” is not an excuse to help ruin your community even if it were true
why hire local when you can bring in a subsidized workers
Larry socialism doesn’t work. That and too much immigration are what is causing this. Government is not the answer.
Our young people wish to earn income, gain work experience, and contribute to their communities, so why do we tolerate so much unnecessary waste of their talents?
The energy and talent of our young people can be mobilized quickly not by abandoning their future to the vagaries of the market but by direct job creation that also benefits local communities.
Lower levels of government, non-profits, and social enterprise groups could administer jobs such as assistance to health care providers and seniors, educational and recreational activities for youth, public arts and culture, and environmental remediation and conservation.
These federally-funded programs can be up and running within months, useful tasks can be performed by citizens at every skill level, and the additional wage base of more working people would stimulate the economy, spreading benefits to all.
Too many foreigners… And it doesn’t help cities like Toronto are pay companies to give training to foreigners… Firing Canadians and replacing them to get free government handouts…
Foreigners taking youth jobs?
Meanwhile the u s economy remains hot, jobless rate at 4.3 percent and the markets are soaring. What do you think about that elbowzos?
We need to keep our natural resources here in Canada and build the processing plants etc. to keep the money here and our people employed here. We’re getting taxed to poor house standards, the uppity Fed. Govt. also the Provincial Govt. needs to pull back on their own wages and hiring practices. We can’t afford to support them in the way the way they have become used to.
It’s OK, this is all part of the LPC’s plan to turn Canada into a 3rd world H hole. This is what eastern Canadians voted for. Alberta, strong & free!
But our elbows are up 🙄
Unemployment is up because all the immigrants get highered at a lower wage.
I guess everything isn’t so rosy in the garden like Carney and this Liberal government want you to believe. More jobs will be lost to AI and now they are doing a 6 month trial run of robots doing food delivery in Vancouver more jobs gone. Canada’s economy is getting worse and Carney is doing nothing but travel around the world and talking without any results
What part of Canada is that? not central Ontario