Employment figures across all industries in the country increased in January 2024, thanks in part to strong gains among several industries in the services-producing sector.

In its Labour Force Survey for January 2024, Statistics Canada reports that national, all-industry employment rose by 37,000 workers (+0.2%) in January, following three months of little change. 

Year over year, overall employment gained 1.7%, with the national, all-industry unemployment rate contracting by 0.1 percentage points, month over month, to reach 5.7%. The decline in that metric was the first reported since December 2022.

Those figures are adjusted for seasonality.

Year over year, construction metrics trend lower; women continue to make gains

Compared with January 2023, seasonally unadjusted data shows construction employment was 2% lower, with 29,600 fewer workers employed. This is likely due to the continued impact of rising interest rates on new-home construction and renovation projects. 

Employment losses were reported exclusively among males (-2.9%), while employment among females rose by 8,700 workers, or +4.5%. Gains were most pronounced among women in the core working age group of 25 to 54 years of age, where employment grew by 4,800 (+3.5%) over the last 12 months. Conversely, employment losses were greatest among males in the same age grouping (-22,900; -2.5%).

Year over year, construction’s labour force contracted by 23,600 workers, or -1.4%. Just as with employment, gains among female workers were more than offset by large contractions among males. The greatest increase was reported among core-aged women (+2,400; 1.6%).

Overall, these trends combined to elevate the industry’s national unemployment rate to 8.3% in January 2024 – an increase of 0.4 percentage points compared to January 2023. Despite this, construction unemployment rates for January remain below levels experienced between 2017 and 2022, which averaged 10.4%. 

Year over year, employment declined in six provinces. British Columbia reported the largest contraction at -27,900 (-11.2%). Ontario (-8,400; -1.5%) and Quebec (-4,500; -1.6%) followed.  Manitoba reported the largest annual gain in employment at 8,200 workers (+1.6%) with New Brunswick and Newfoundland and Labrador following at +7,500 (+30%) and +1,400 (+8.3%) respectively.

Unemployment rates across the provinces in January 2024 ranged from a high of 23.1% in Newfoundland and Labrador to a low of 5.4% in Manitoba. Including Newfoundland and Labrador, five provinces reported rates of 10% or greater. The others were New Brunswick (12.2%), Quebec (11.6%), Saskatchewan (10.6%), and Nova Scotia (10%).

This article was written by Klayton Gonçalves, Senior Economist and Head of Business Intelligence for BuildForce Canada. It was first published on the BuildForce Labour Market Corner blog, and we reprint it here with permission.