UNEMPLOYMENT RATE IN OCTOBER 2022 IN CANADA

According to Statistics Canada, the unemployment rate remained at 5.2% in October.

Source: Statistics Canada

Employment increased by 108,000 (+0.6%) in October, reversing the declines seen from May to September.

Source: Statistics Canada

-In Quebec, employment rose by 28,000 (+0.6%) in October, the second increase in three months. The province's unemployment rate fell 0.3 percentage points to 4.1%.

-In October, the average hourly wage was up 5.6% (+$1.68 to reach $31.94) compared to a year earlier (data not seasonally adjusted). Although average wages have risen by more than 5% year-over-year in each of the past five months, they have not kept pace with inflation, which stood at 6.9% in September.

-The employment rate stood at 61.6% in October 2022, up 0.3 percentage points from the rate of 61.6% in September 2022.

-The participation rate increased by 0.2 percentage points to 64.9% in October, but was 0.5 percentage points below the recent peak of 65.4% reached in February and March 2022.

-The number of employees in the private sector increased for the first time since March 2022. Employment was little changed among public sector employees and the self-employed. The number of self-employed workers also changed little in October. This is the third month in a row where employment shows little change; self-employment remained stable compared to a year earlier and was down 228,000 ( -7.9 %) from its pre-pandemic level of February 2020.

-The adjusted unemployment rate — which includes people who wanted a job but did not look for one — was virtually unchanged in October, at 7.1%.

Definition

The employment rate represents the number of employed persons expressed as a percentage of the population aged 15 and over. The employment rate of a particular group (eg young people aged 15-24) is the number of employed persons in that group expressed as a percentage of the population in that same group.

Unemployment rate represents the number of unemployed expressed as a percentage of the active population (employed and unemployed).

The activity rate is the number of employed and unemployed expressed as a percentage of the population aged 15 and over.

Full time employment includes persons who usually work 30 hours or more per week at their main or only job.

Part-time employment includes persons who usually work less than 30 hours per week at their main or only job.

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