Canada Employment Change

The Canadian economy created 104 thousand jobs in December of 2022, easily beating market expectations of an 8 thousand gain. Full-time work rose by 84.5 thousand and part-time increased by 19.5 thousand. Employment growth was led by an increase among youth aged 15 to 24, which recouped cumulative losses observed for this group from July to September. The number of employees increased in the private sector, while it held steady in the public sector. There were broad-based employment gains across several industries, including construction, as well as transportation and warehousing. Employment increased in Ontario, Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, Newfoundland and Labrador, and Saskatchewan in December. There was little change in the other provinces.In December, 8.1% of employees were absent due to illness or disability, up from 6.8% in November. This was higher than the pre-pandemic average of 6.9% recorded in the month of December from 2017 to 2019 (not seasonally adjusted).