Construction employment rebounds in August
By Adam Freill
Construction LabourStrong, five-figure growth in hiring in Canada’s construction industries helped offset losses reported in July’s Labour Force Survey.
Employment growth in August. (Source: Statistics Canada, Labour Force Survey (3701), table 14-10-0355-01.)
A 34,000 position jump in construction helped Canadian employment figures rise by 40,000 workers in August. The 0.2 per cent increase in employment reported in Statistics Canada’s latest Labour Force Survey was outpaced by 0.3 per cent growth in population, however, which resulted in a marginal 0.1 percentage slip to 61.9 per cent in the employment rate — the proportion of the population aged 15 and older who are employed.
Canada’s unemployment rate remained unchanged at 5.5 per cent, following three consecutive monthly increases in May, June and July. The rate increased by 0.5 percentage points from April to July. For August, the number of people who were unemployed stood at 1.2 million, little changed from the previous month but up 123,000, or 11.6 per cent since April.
Employment increased by 33,000 and 21,000 among core-aged men and women aged 25 to 54 years, while employment declined by 27,000 among women aged 55 and older. Employment for female youth increased by 32,000 positions while declining by 29,000 among male youth.
Leading sectors for employment growth were professional, scientific and technical services, which gained 52,000 workers, a rise of 2.8 per cent, and the construction sector, which grew by 2.2 per cent as it added 34,000 jobs.
The gains in construction partially offset the decrease experienced in July when the sector trimmed 45,000 positions from its ranks. Compared with 12 months earlier, employment in this industry was little changed in August. While there were 33,000 fewer people working in construction in British Columbia in August 2023 than in August 2022, there were 19,000 more people working in construction in Quebec over that timeframe.
