Construction employment slides in December, ends 2018 with slightly larger workforce

Canada’s unemployment rate remains at its 43-year low of 5.6 per cent heading into 2019

OTTAWA—A construction hiring surge in November that saw the industry add nearly 15,000 jobs did not carry into December.

According to Statistics Canada’s latest labour force survey, the construction industry shed 2,400 jobs, seasonally adjusted, in the final month of 2018.

The figure translates to a 0.2 per cent decline for the building sector, which fell short against the overall economy that eked out a small, though statistically insignificantly gain, of 9,300 jobs from a month earlier.

On a year-over-year basis, the construction industry also trails Canada as a whole, though each is in better shape than at the start of 2018. Canada overall added 163,300 jobs last year, or 0.9 per cent, while the construction sector grew by 7,000 positions, or 0.5 per cent.

Canada’s unemployment rate remains at its 43-year low of 5.6 per cent heading into 2019.