Investing.com -- In December, Canada saw an increase in employment by 91,000 (+0.4%) and the employment rate increased by 0.2 percentage points to 60.8%. The unemployment rate also saw a slight decline by 0.1 percentage points to 6.7%.
Notably, employment rose for men aged 25 to 54 and those aged 55 and older, as well as for women aged 55 and older. In terms of sectors, December's employment gains were led by educational services, transportation and warehousing, finance, insurance, real estate, rental and leasing, and health care and social assistance.
Geographically, employment increased in Alberta, Ontario, British Columbia, Nova Scotia, and Saskatchewan, while Manitoba saw a decline. The total hours worked increased by 0.5% in December and were up 2.1% compared with a year earlier. Average hourly wages among employees were up 3.8% (+$1.32 to $35.77) on a year-over-year basis in December.
The year 2024 ended with 413,000 (+2.0%) more people working in December compared with 12 months earlier. This year-over-year growth rate was comparable to the one observed in December 2023 (+2.1%) and to the average growth rate for December over the pre-COVID-19 pandemic period of 2017 to 2019 (+1.9%).
Public sector employment rose by 40,000 (+0.9%) in December, the second consecutive monthly increase. Private sector employment was little changed in December (+27,000; +0.2%) and was up 191,000 (+1.4%) on a year-over-year basis. The number of self-employed people rose by 24,000 (+0.9%) in December, the first increase since February. This brought total gains in self-employment for the year to 64,000 (+2.4%).
The employment rate increased 0.2 percentage points to 60.8% in December, after holding steady in November. The increase in December was the first since January 2023. On a year-over-year basis, the employment rate was down 0.9 percentage points in December.
Employment increased by 30,000 (+0.4%) among core-aged (25 to 54 years old) men in December, building on an increase of 45,000 in November. The increase in December pushed the employment rate of core-aged men up 0.2 percentage points to 86.7%. Employment for core-aged women was virtually unchanged in December and the employment rate for this group held steady at 80.1%.
Among people aged 55 and older, employment increased both for men (+41,000; +1.7%) and women (+21,000; +1.1%) in December. For men in this age group, the increase was the first since January. On a year-over-year basis, employment was little changed in December for both men and women aged 55 and older.
The unemployment rate was 6.7% in December, down 0.1 percentage points from the previous month. The rate in November was the highest since January 2017 (outside of 2020 and 2021, during the pandemic). On a year-over-year basis, the unemployment rate was up 0.9 percentage points in December.
Average hourly wages among employees were up 3.8% (+$1.32 to $35.77) on a year-over-year basis in December, following growth of 4.1% in November and of 4.9% in October (not seasonally adjusted).
Employment rose by 17,000 (+1.1%) in educational services—the second consecutive monthly increase—and in health care and social assistance (+16,000; +0.5%) in December. Over the 12 months of 2024, growth in health care and social assistance (+130,000; +4.8%) and educational services (+71,000; +4.7%) have together accounted for nearly half of employment growth across all industries.
Employment in transportation and warehousing increased by 17,000 (+1.6%) in December, rebounding from a similar-sized decline in November. There was little employment change in the industry on a year-over-year basis.
In December, employment rose in finance, insurance, real estate rental and leasing (+16,000; +1.1%), the first significant increase since August 2024. On a year-over-year basis, employment in the industry was up 85,000 (+6.2%).
In Alberta, employment increased by 35,000 (+1.4%) in December, building on gains observed in three of the previous four months. The employment rate rose 0.7 percentage points to 64.8%, and the unemployment rate fell 0.8 percentage points to 6.7%. In the 12 months to December 2024, employment grew by 4.0% (+100,000) in Alberta, twice the pace for Canada as a whole (+2.0%; +413,000).
In Ontario, employment increased by 23,000 (+0.3%) in December, following two months of little change. In the 12 months to December, employment in the province grew 2.6% (+205,000). The unemployment rate in the province held steady at 7.5% in December and was up 1.2 percentage points on a year-over-year basis.
Employment in British Columbia rose by 14,000 (+0.5%) in December. Despite the employment gain, the unemployment rate rose 0.3 percentage points to 6.0% in the month, as more people participated in the labour force. On a year-over-year basis, employment in the province was essentially unchanged.
Employment also increased in December in Nova Scotia (+7,400; +1.4%) and Saskatchewan (+4,000; +0.7%), and the unemployment rates in both provinces were little changed at 6.3% in Nova Scotia and 5.9% in Saskatchewan.
Manitoba (-7,200; -1.0%) was the lone province with an employment decline in December, and the unemployment rate in the province increased 0.4 percentage points to 6.2%.
Employment was little changed in Quebec, following an increase in November. With fewer people searching for work, the unemployment rate fell 0.3 percentage points to 5.6%. Compared with December 2023, the unemployment rate in Quebec was up 0.9 percentage points and the employment rate was down 0.9 percentage points to 61.0%.
In 2024, around 1.8 million people, representing 8.8% of total employment, worked in industries where 35% or more of jobs depended on US demand for Canadian exports. These industries are identified using the latest available estimates on value-added in exports from the System of Macroeconomic Accounts.
Industries with the highest proportion of employment dependent on US demand included oil and gas extraction, pipeline transportation, primary metal manufacturing and transportation equipment manufacturing.
Among economic regions in 2024, Wood Buffalo-Cold Lake, Alberta had the highest share of employment in industries dependent on American demand for Canadian exports. Other economic regions with above-average proportions of employment in these industries in 2024 included Centre-du-Québec, Edmundston-Woodstock, New Brunswick (NYSE:BC), Southern Nova Scotia, Banff-Jasper-Rocky Mountain House and Athabasca-Grande Prairie-Peace River, Alberta and Windsor-Sarnia, Ontario.
In 2024, workers with a high school diploma or a lower level of education and those with post-secondary education below a bachelor's degree were more likely to work in industries dependent on American demand for Canadian exports compared with those with a bachelor's degree or a higher level of education. Men were also more likely to work in these industries than women.
Employment in industries dependent on US demand for Canadian exports tend to pay above-average wages. In 2024, the average hourly wage of employees working in these industries was $37.24, 6.5% higher than for employees in other industries.
In total, 675,000 Canadians, or 2.3% of the population aged 15 to 69, did paid work through a digital platform in the 12 months ending in December 2024 by providing services, renting out accommodation, goods or equipment, or selling goods through websites or apps that coordinated their work activities or managed payments. This included 498,000 Canadians who provided services through digital platforms. The most common services included the delivery of food or other goods, personal transport, and the creation of content, such as videos or podcasts.
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