Canada’s employment rose +54k in November (+0.3% MoM), lifting the employment rate to 60.9% (+0.1 ppt) and lowering the unemployment rate to 6.5% (vs 7.0% expected), down -0.4 ppts from October, marking a third straight month of job gains and a clear improvement from earlier 2025 softness.

• Youth employment drove the increase, rising +50k (+1.8%), while employment among core aged and older workers was little changed, underscoring a rebound after a difficult year for younger workers.

• Industry gains were led by health care and social assistance (+46k; +1.6%), accommodation and food services (+14k; +1.2%), and natural resources (+11k; +3.4%), highlighting strength across several service and goods producing segments.

• Wholesale and retail trade fell -34k (-1.1%), offsetting October’s gain, with the sharpest declines in Ontario (-20k) and Quebec (-9.7k), though the sector remained +44k (+1.5%) above year earlier levels.

• Part time work accounted for the entire monthly increase (+63k; +1.6%), while full time employment was steady, continuing a three month trend where part time growth (+2.7% over three months) outpaced full time (+0.5%).

• Private sector employment rose +52k (+0.4%), while public sector and self employment saw little change, indicating that November’s gains were concentrated in private payrolls.

• The number of unemployed fell by -80k (-5.1%), and the job finding rate among those unemployed in October reached 19.6%, higher than the 18.6% rate one year earlier.

• The youth unemployment rate declined to 12.8% (-1.3 ppts), its second straight drop after peaking at 14.7% in September, while unemployment among core aged workers also eased to 5.6% for men (-0.4 ppts) and 5.5% for women (-0.2 ppts).