Statistics Canada’s October 2026 Labour Force Survey, released November 6, reported a decline of 52,500 private-sector employees, while public-sector employment rose by 49,600.
Total employment was little changed, down 4,700. The employment rate fell to 60.5%, marking a third consecutive monthly decline.
Statistics Canada said the private-sector decline was the first since February. Public-sector employment, meanwhile, rose after four consecutive monthly declines that had totalled 148,000.
The yearly comparison looked different from the monthly move. Compared with October 2025, private-sector employment was still slightly higher, up 34,800, while public-sector employment remained 69,700 lower.
The class-of-worker split is also different from the industry split. Public-sector employees rose by 49,600, but employment in the public administration industry rose by 3,400. The categories answer different questions, so October’s public-sector offset should not be read as a simple jump in public administration employment.
Wholesale and retail trade remained the biggest industry drag
By industry, wholesale and retail trade accounted for the largest monthly decline, falling by 29,000, or 1.0%. The sector was down 113,000 from a year earlier, with Statistics Canada saying the year-over-year losses were concentrated in Ontario, Quebec and British Columbia.
Construction added 16,000 jobs in October and was up 47,000 from a year earlier. Educational services added 15,000 during the month, partially offsetting a September decline, but remained 48,000 below October 2025.
Professional, scientific and technical services slipped by 4,800 in October, a much smaller monthly movement than the retail drop, and remained 24,200 above its level from a year earlier.
Unemployment rose as job searching increased
The unemployment rate rose 0.2 percentage points to 6.7% as 33,000 more people searched for work. Statistics Canada said the rate was still below the recent peak of 6.9% recorded in April 2026, but October marked the second consecutive monthly increase.
Youth unemployment rose 0.7 percentage points to 13.7%. The core-age unemployment rate held steady at 5.8% for men and 5.3% for women, while the rate for people aged 55 and older rose to 5.5%.
Long-term unemployment remained elevated. Among the 1.5 million people unemployed in October, 23.7% had been searching for work for 27 weeks or more, compared with 21.5% a year earlier and the 2017-to-2019 average of 17.2%.
The job-finding rate also pointed to tougher conditions for job seekers. Just under one in five unemployed people in September, 18.9%, had found work in October, below the 24.6% average for the same months from 2017 to 2019.
Household financial pressure ticked higher
Statistics Canada reported that 29.7% of Canadians aged 15 and older lived in a household that had difficulty meeting financial needs for transportation, housing, food, clothing or other necessary expenses over the previous four weeks.
That share rose 2.0 percentage points from October 2025, after falling from 35.5% in October 2022 to 27.7% in October 2025. Among the 15 largest census metropolitan areas, the highest shares were in Oshawa at 38.4%, Windsor at 36.9% and Hamilton at 35.9%.
Monthly estimates need longer-term context
The Labour Force Survey is a household survey rather than an employer payroll file. Statistics Canada cautions that monthly estimates can show more sampling variability than longer-term trends, which makes the next few releases important for judging whether October’s private-sector drop was a one-month move or part of a broader weakening pattern.
Statistics Canada said the October survey reflects labour market conditions during the week of October 11 to 17. The next Labour Force Survey release, covering November conditions during the week of November 8 to 14, is scheduled for December 4, 2026.
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