Construction employment rises in March 

Construction employment made considerable gains in March. (Source: Statistics Canada, Labour Force Survey (3701), table 14-10-0355-01.)

Canada’s construction sector gained 15,000 workers in March, bringing the employment figures back in line with the same month a year earlier, reports Statistics Canada in its latest Labour Force Survey. Across the broader spectrum of sectors, employment was little changed across the country, slipping by a negligible 2,200 positions as the employment rate fell 0.1 percentage points to 61.4 per cent.

From March 2023 to March 2024, the national employment rate has decreased by 0.9 percentage points. In those 12 months, employment growth of 324,000 positions was outpaced by a population gain of more than one million in the 15 and older cohort tracked in the Labour Force Survey. In March, Statistics Canada released a report indicating that Canada’s population was rising at an annual rate of 3.2 per cent — the fastest annual growth rate since 1957.

Alongside the decrease in the employment rate, the unemployment rate was rising. That rate jumped 0.3 percentage points to reach 6.1 per cent in March. On a year-over-year basis, the unemployment rate was up by one per cent. Statistics Canada says the monthly increase in the rate was driven by an increase of 60,000 people searching for work or on temporary layoff. This brought the total number of unemployed people to 1.3 million, an increase of 247,000, or 23 per cent, compared with 12 months earlier.

The labour force participation rate, or the proportion of the population aged 15 and older who were employed or looking for work, stood at 65.3 per cent for the third consecutive month in March. On a year-over-year basis, the participation rate was down by 0.4 percentage points. This, says the agency, was a reflection of year-over-year declines in the participation rates of youth aged 15 to 24 and people aged 55 and older.

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