Canada’s unemployment rate rises to 6.7% in October as youth joblessness hits 13.7% and household financial stress climbs

AI-generated editorial illustration: a clay house model on a stone slab, a briefcase, a blank kraft folder and a bronze key represent labor-market slack and household financial pressure, not an actual scene.

More job seekers push the unemployment rate to 6.7% as private-sector employment drops by 53,000

Statistics Canada reported in The Daily on November 6, 2026, that national employment was little changed in October (-4,700, or 0.0%, standing at 21,100,100, rounded to 21,100,000) during the October 11–17 reference week, while the employment rate among people aged 15 and older edged down 0.1 percentage point for a third consecutive month to 60.5% (below the 2017–2019 pre-pandemic average of 62.0%). Because 33,000 more people searched for work (+2.2%, lifting total unemployment to 1,507,700), the national unemployment rate rose 0.2 percentage points to 6.7%, marking a second straight monthly increase while remaining below the recent peak of 6.9% recorded in April 2026.¹²

By age group and class of worker, labor market slack was heavily concentrated among young people and private-sector employees. Among youth aged 15 to 24, employment dipped by 10,700 (-0.4%)—lowering the youth employment rate to 54.0%—while the youth unemployment rate jumped 0.7 percentage points to 13.7% (compared with a 10.8% average over 2017–2019). By contrast, core-aged workers (25 to 54) maintained a steady employment rate of 83.6% and an unemployment rate of 5.6% (5.8% for Men+ and 5.3% for Women+), while workers aged 55 and older saw employment edge down by 14,000 and unemployment rise to 5.5%. Across employer categories, private-sector employees fell by 53,000 (-0.4%, the first decline since February 2026), largely offset by a 50,000 (+1.1%) rebound in public-sector employment following four months of cumulative losses totaling 148,000. By industry, wholesale and retail trade shed 29,000 jobs (-1.0%), whereas construction (+16,000) and educational services (+15,000) expanded.¹²

Alberta and British Columbia diverge as 29.7% of Canadians report household financial difficulty

Provincial outcomes diverged sharply in October: employment in Alberta fell by 24,000 (-0.9%), erasing September’s +23,000 gain and pushing Alberta’s unemployment rate up 0.9 percentage points to 7.3%; British Columbia added 12,000 jobs (+0.4%), trimming its unemployment rate to 6.3%; Ontario employment was little changed (-8,600) as its unemployment rate rose 0.3 percentage points to 7.3% (with the Toronto census metropolitan area reaching 7.4% on an unsmoothed monthly basis); and Quebec edged up by 7,500 with unemployment dipping to 5.7%. On an unadjusted basis, average hourly wages across all employees rose 2.2% year on year (+$0.83) to $37.89, with average usual weekly hours at 35.4 hours.¹²

Two supplementary spotlight modules in the October release highlight household budget strain and workplace disparities: 29.7% of Canadians lived in a household reporting difficulty meeting basic financial needs for transportation, housing, food, and utilities in October 2026—up 2.0 percentage points from 27.7% in October 2025 and marking the first year-over-year increase since October 2022 (reaching 47.2% among lone-parent families and 38.4%, 36.9%, and 35.9% in the Oshawa, Windsor, and Hamilton metropolitan areas). Meanwhile, 60.9% of workers aged 15 to 69 reported high job satisfaction (8 to 10 out of 10), with the lowest satisfaction (54.3%) recorded in sales and service occupations, which also had the lowest average hourly wage ($24.19). Methodologically, Statistics Canada’s Labour Force Survey samples roughly 65,000 households (over 100,000 respondents), evaluates statistical significance at the 68% confidence level, and excludes the three territories (reported separately as three-month moving averages), persons living on reserves, and full-time Armed Forces members from national totals.¹²

Source notes

1. 2026-11-06 · The Daily — Labour Force Survey, October 2026 · Statistics Canada. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴

2. 2026-11-06 · Labour Force Survey, October 2026 (PDF) · Statistics Canada. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴