Canada Unemployment Rate

The unemployment rate in Canada remained unchanged from the previous month at 6.9% in July of 2025, slightly below market expectations of 7%, but holding relatively close to the near-four-year high of 7% two months prior. This was in line with the Bank of Canada's assessment that a large supply of labor and increasing growth concerns due to tariffs and uncertain economic policy from the US threatened further deterioration in the domestic labor backdrop. The number of unemployed people was relatively unchanged at 1.6 million, with 23.8% of those classified as long-term unemployed. This coincided with a 40.8 thousand drop in net employment, the sharpest since 2022, trimming the 83.1 thousand surge from June and contrasting with expectations of a 13.5 thousand increase, as the participation rate fell by 0.2 percentage points to 65.2%. In turn, youth unemployment rose to 14.6%, the highest since 2010 when excluding the pandemic shock, largely due to slow hiring for seasonal summer jobs.