The unemployment rate climbed for the fourth time in six months to reach 5.7% in October. Job creation continues to slow down, with 18,000 jobs added.
In Quebec, employment fell by 22,000 in October, after increasing by 39,000 in September. The unemployment rate in October rose 0.5 percentage points to 4.9%. In the Montreal census metropolitan area, the unemployment rate increased by 1.0 percentage point, and stood at 6.0% in October.
According to Statistics Canada, employment increased in construction and information, culture and recreation in October. This increase was offset by declines in wholesale and retail trade and manufacturing.
Employment increased in four provinces in October, particularly in Alberta (+38,000; +1.5%), while it declined in Quebec.
There were 1.2 million people unemployed in October, up 16.2% since April. Among people who were unemployed in September, 60.1% remained unemployed in October — a higher proportion than that recorded 12 months earlier (55.4%) and an indication that job seekers are having more difficulty finding employment. find work than a year ago, according to Statistics Canada.
The rise in the cost of living is increasingly felt in the country. Statistics Canada estimates that one in three Canadians live in a household that finds it difficult or very difficult to meet their housing, transportation and food needs.
It is in southern Ontario that these difficulties are most present. In Toronto, nearly 40% of households say they are experiencing financial difficulties, while this proportion is less than 30% in Montreal. Three Quebec cities, Montreal, Gatineau and Quebec, are those where households say they are least affected among the twenty main Canadian metropolitan regions.