Construction employment plunges in May

Employment changes by sector in May. (Source: Statistics Canada, Labour Force Survey (3701), table 14-10-0355-01.)

Canada’s construction sector workforce contracted by almost two per cent in May, leading all market segments in the latest Labour Force Survey from Statistics Canada.

While the overall national employment picture was little changed in May, the construction sector experienced a significant dip, losing 30,000 workers for the month. The 1.9 per cent drop from April contributed to a year-over-year decline of 35,000 workers in the sector, a reduction of 2.2 per cent of filled positions compared to May of 2023. On a seasonally adjusted basis, there were 1,560,200 people employed in Canada’s construction industry in May.

Across all sectors of the economy, the employment rate fell 0.1 percentage points to 61.3 per cent, and the unemployment rate bumped upwards to 6.2 per cent in May, up 0.1 percentage points in the month and 0.9 percentage points on a year-over-year basis.

There were 1.4 million unemployed people in May of this year. Of those who were unemployed in April, just under one-quarter had transitioned to employment in May, suggesting that people may be facing greater difficulties finding work in the current labour market.

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