Construction sheds more jobs in June

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

Canada’s construction sector dropped 3,800 jobs in June, reports Statistics Canada in its latest Labour Force Survey. The 0.2 per cent dip from May put the industry behind the national employment picture, which was virtually unchanged, dropping 1,400 positions in June – not enough to even register the change by percentage.

Despite the flat jobs figure, the employment rate fell 0.2 percentage points to 61.1 per cent and the unemployment rate increased 0.2 percentage points to 6.4 per cent. That rate has added 1.3 percentage points since April of 2023. There were 1.4 million unemployed people across Canada in June 2024, an increase of 42,000 from the previous month.

On a year-over-year basis, general employment was up by 1.7 per cent in June, a gain of 343,000 positions. The construction sector did not match that trend, however, shedding almost 30,000 jobs over the 12-month period; a fall of 1.9 per cent.

Overall, reports Statistics Canada, as the unemployment rate has increased over the past year, so too has the proportion of long-term unemployed. Among the unemployed, 17.6 per cent had been continuously unemployed for 27 weeks or more in June 2024, up four percentage points from a year earlier.

www.statcan.gc.ca