Canada’s unemployment rate ticks up to 7% in May, highest in 9 years outside of pandemic

Canada’s unemployment rate rose to seven per cent in May, the highest it’s been in nine years outside of the pandemic, Statistics Canada said on Friday.

The economy added just 8,800 jobs during the month, showing little change from April. In that month, the unemployment rate came in at 6.9 per cent.

Statistics Canada says there has been “virtually no employment growth” since January after strong gains in the fall.

The number of employees hired into the private sector rose in May for the first time since the beginning of the year, and public sector employment fell due to the end of the federal election period, which ramped up seasonal hiring.

There were 1.6 million unemployed people in May, a 13.8 per cent increase from the same period last year, according to the data agency.

A smaller share of people who were unemployed in April found jobs in May compared to the same period in other comparable years.

“This indicates that people are facing greater difficulties finding work in the current labour market,” the agency said.

Unemployed people also spent more time looking for work — 21.8 weeks, or about five months — compared to a year earlier, when the average was 18.4 weeks.

Meanwhile, young people are facing a challenging start to the summer job market. The jobless rate for students returning to school in the fall also saw a year-over-year increase to 20.1 per cent, ticking up 3.2 per cent from last May. 

Average hourly wages grew 3.4 per cent (increasing $1.20 to $36.14) compared to the same period last year, matching the pace of growth seen in April.