The unemployment rate rose 0.2% in May to 5.2% in Canada. This is the first increase since August 2022. In Quebec, the unemployment rate remained stable at 4%.
Overall employment was virtually unchanged in May, which is a consequence of the economic slowdown, according to Statistics Canada. There are 17,000 fewer jobs. “Job growth has slowed in recent months and average monthly increases were 33,000 from February to April. This followed strong increases in employment totaling 326,000 recorded from September 2022 to January 2023,” said Statistics Canada.
In Quebec, employment was little changed for a fourth consecutive month in May, and the unemployment rate (4.0%) remained just above the record low of 3.9% recorded in January 2023 and November 2022 In the Montreal metropolitan area, employment increased by 19,000 (+0.8%) and the unemployment rate fell to 3.9% (-0.7 percentage points), which represents the lowest rate since comparable data began to be published in 2006.
Employment fell in Ontario (-24,000; -0.3%), Nova Scotia (-5,200; -1.0%) and Newfoundland and Labrador (-4,200; -1.8 %) in May 2023, while it increased in Manitoba (+8200; +1.2%). The other provinces saw little change in employment.
Compared to a year earlier, the average hourly wage increased by 5.1% (+$1.61 to reach $33.25) in May.