Construction employment dips slightly lower in July

Construction’s labour market has only partially recovered from COVID-related layoffs in 2020.

The construction labour market posted another lackluster performance in July, shedding 3,900 jobs.

The relatively small decline of 0.3 per cent marks the fourth straight month of job losses for the industry. A total of 1.412 million workers were employed in construction as of last month, still down considerably from the roughly 1.5 million prior to the pandemic.

Compared to the wider economy, the construction industry underperformed. Across all industries, Canadian employment rose 0.5 per cent during July.