Construction labour market comes back to life in July with addition of 25,000 jobs

The positive numbers mark just the second month the construction industry has added jobs this year

OTTAWA—After a less than stellar first six months of the year, the construction labour market clawed back about 25,000 jobs in July, translating to a 1.7 per cent gain from a month earlier.

Notable increases in Quebec and Alberta drove the worker count higher, according to Statistics Canada’s latest Labour Force Survey. Aside from a large gain in April, the construction industry’s labour market had been losing ground all year.

Factoring in the July figures, just shy of 1.5 million workers were employed on Canadian construction sites last month, up 2.7 per cent the same month of 2018.

Canada’s overall job market inched forward just 0.2 per cent in July, but remains up 2.7 per cent year-over-year, marginally outpacing construction.