Economy lost 41,000 jobs in July but unemployment rate held steady at 6.9%

The Canadian economy shed some 41,000 jobs in July as young workers and the private sector bore the brunt of the losses, Statistics Canada said Friday.

The unemployment rate held steady at 6.9% as the number of job seekers was roughly unchanged from June.

The economy lost 51,000 full-time positions in July, and StatCan said the bulk of the losses were in the private sector.

Young workers in particular continue to struggle in a tough summer jobs market.

Youth aged 15 to 24 lost 34,000 positions last month while the employment rate for the age group fell to 53.6% — the lowest level since November 1998, outside the Covid pandemic.

July’s drop in jobs partially offsets an unexpected gain of 83,000 positions in June.

StatCan said employment was down across several industries in July.

The information, culture and recreation sector led job losses with 29,000 positions shed, followed by construction, which lost 22,000 roles.

Offsetting those losses was an increase of 26,000 jobs in transportation and warehousing, marking the sector’s first job gain since January. Parts of this industry are affected by U.S. demand for exports and have faced disruption from the United States’ tariff campaign in recent months.

Manufacturing, another tariff-sensitive industry, posted its second consecutive month of modest job gains with 5,300 positions added in July. On a year-over-year basis, employment in manufacturing is still down by 9,400 jobs.

StatCan said the layoff rate — the proportion of people employed in June but laid off in July — was virtually unchanged at 1.1% from the same month a year ago despite the uncertainty tied to trade and U.S. tariffs.

But many of those looking for work are struggling to land a job, the agency noted.

Of the 1.6 million people who were jobless in July, 23.8% were in long-term unemployment, meaning they’ve been on the job hunt for 27 weeks or more. StatCan said that’s the highest share of long-term unemployment since February 1998, again excluding the pandemic.

Average hourly wages meanwhile rose 3.3% on an annual basis in July, up a tick from June.