Canada’s Job Market Slows in December as Unemployment Rises to 6.8%

Canada’s labour market lost some momentum in December 2025, with employment barely changing – only 8,200 net new jobs were added – after three months of stronger gains earlier in the fall. At the same time, the unemployment rate rose to 6.8 per cent from 6.5 per cent in November, because more people entered the labour force looking for work.

Most of the job additions were in full-time work, with part-time employment declining slightly. The employment rate stayed around 60.9 per cent, showing little improvement compared with the previous month. Youth unemployment was notably high, and some sectors and regions saw different trends, with jobs growing in places like healthcare and construction while others pulled back.

Looking back on 2025 as a whole, Canada added about 226,300 jobs – the slowest annual pace of hiring outside pandemic years – suggesting that the labour market softened through the year, even though conditions improved somewhat late in the year.