Karmactive Staff
Canada’s job market showed surprising strength in June 2025. The economy added 83,100 jobs, pushing unemployment down to 6.9% from May’s 7.0%. This breaks a streak of rising unemployment that had lasted three months.
The strong numbers caught experts off guard. Most had predicted unemployment would rise to 7.1% with no job growth at all. Instead, Canada saw its first major job gain since January.
Most new jobs were part-time positions – about 70,000 of the total. Stores and shopping centers led the way, with retail and wholesale trade adding 34,000 jobs. Healthcare added 17,000 positions, while manufacturing gained 10,500 jobs despite ongoing worries about tariffs.
Alberta had the strongest showing among provinces with 30,000 new jobs – a 1.2% employment boost. Quebec followed with 23,000 jobs, while Ontario added 21,000. Not all regions fared well, though. Newfoundland and Labrador lost 3,500 jobs, and Nova Scotia shed 3,400 positions.
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Some local areas continue to struggle. Windsor has Canada’s highest big-city unemployment at 11.2%, largely because of problems in car manufacturing. Ottawa also lost 10,000 jobs in June.
Workers saw modest pay increases, with average hourly wages rising 3.2% compared to last year, reaching $37.22. This represents a slight slowdown from May’s 3.4% increase – potentially good news for inflation concerns.
“The Canadian jobs report isn’t quite as strong as it first appears but it’s certainly solid,” said Andrew Kelvin from TD Securities. Katherine Judge, an economist at CIBC Capital Markets, noted that the report “clearly diminishes the odds of a Bank of Canada rate cut in July.”
Indeed, chances of a July 30 interest rate cut dropped sharply after the report came out. Markets now see less than a 20% chance of a cut, down from 30% just a day earlier.
The strong job numbers come despite growing trade tensions. U.S. President Donald Trump recently threatened to impose 35% tariffs on all Canadian imports starting August 1, on top of existing tariffs on several products.
Next week’s inflation report will be the last major economic update before the Bank of Canada makes its interest rate decision, likely confirming that rates will stay unchanged for now.
