Canada's employment decreased by 24,800 in January, but the unemployment rate fell to 6.5%
Canada's economy lost 24,800 jobs last month, with the largest employment losses in manufacturing, as U.S. tariffs continued to impact the sector.
However, according to the January labor force survey released by Statistics Canada on Friday, the decrease in the number of people looking for work offset the impact of the job losses, bringing the unemployment rate down to 6.5%.
Economists surveyed by Bloomberg had previously expected a slight increase of 5,000 jobs with the unemployment rate remaining unchanged at 6.8%.
January saw the biggest monthly decline in employment since August, with Ontario's labor market hit the hardest, losing 67,000 jobs. U.S. President Donald Trump's tariff policy dealt a particularly severe blow to this most populous Canadian province, which is also the center of Canada's auto industry.
Last week, General Motors officially laid off 500 workers at its Oshawa plant in Ontario and closed one of the shifts.
Since January 2025, manufacturing employment across Canada has dropped by 51,000 jobs.
Additional data collected in the January labor force survey indicate that the trade war may be forcing some workers in U.S.-dependent industries to consider leaving their jobs.
The report shows that in industries reliant on U.S. demand, 5.4% of core-age full-time employees plan to leave their jobs within the next 12 months. This figure is up by 1.5 percentage points from a year ago, while the increase in other industries is much smaller, at just 0.7 percentage points.
Meanwhile, the decline in the unemployment rate in January was due to fewer Canadians looking for work last month, with the labor force participation rate falling by 0.4 percentage points to 65%.
Editor: Li Zhaofu
Disclaimer: The content of this article solely reflects the author's opinion and does not represent the platform in any capacity. This article is not intended to serve as a reference for making investment decisions.
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