List of Canadian provinces by unemployment rate

The list of Canadian provinces by unemployment rate are statistics that directly refer to the nation's seasonally adjusted unemployment rate. Below is a comparison of the seasonally adjusted unemployment rates by province/territory, sortable by name or unemployment rate. Data provided by Statistics Canada's Labour Force Survey.[1] Not seasonally adjusted data reflects the actual current unemployment rate, while seasonally adjusted data removes the seasonal component from the information.

Unemployment by province or territory

Province Unemployment
percentage of labour force
as of April 2025[2][3] 		Monthly percent change
(Positive decrease=drop in unemployment)
Alberta 7.1 Steady 0.0%
British Columbia 6.2 Negative increase 0.1%
Manitoba 5.3 Positive decrease 0.7%
Newfoundland and Labrador 9.6 Positive decrease 0.4%
New Brunswick 6.9 Positive decrease 0.1%
Nova Scotia 7.2 Negative increase 1.1%
Ontario 7.8 Negative increase 0.3%
Prince Edward Island 6.6 Positive decrease 0.9%
Quebec 6.0 Negative increase 0.3%
Saskatchewan 4.3 Positive decrease 0.6%
Canada (national) 6.9 Negative increase 0.2%


Definitions of modern full employment range from 3% to 6% unemployment rates.

Data differences from US rates

Canada uses a different measure to gauge the unemployment than the United States calculation. An analyst with the American Bureau of Labour Statistics stated that if the Canadian unemployment rate were adjusted to U.S. concepts, it would be reduced by 1 percentage point.[4]

Unemployment extremes

The lowest level of national unemployment came in 1947 with a 2.2% unemployment rate, a result of the smaller pool of available workers caused by casualties from the Second World War.

The highest level of unemployment throughout Canada was set in December 1982, when the early 1980s recession resulted in 13.1% of the adult population being out of work due to economic factors that originated in the United States.[5] The primary cause of the early 1980s recession was a contractionary monetary policy established by the Federal Reserve System to control high inflation.[6]

During the Great Depression, urban unemployment throughout Canada was 19%; Toronto's rate was 17%, according to the census of 1931. Farmers who stayed on their farms were not considered unemployed.[7]

References

  1. ^ Labour force characteristics by province – Seasonally adjusted . Statistics Canada. Accessed 2012-12-07.
  2. ^ Government Of Canada, Statistics Canada (2025-05-09). "Unemployment rate by province and territory, April 2025". www150.statcan.gc.ca. Retrieved 2025-07-14.
  3. ^ Government of Canada, Statistics Canada (2025-05-09). "The Daily — Labour Force Survey, April 2025". www150.statcan.gc.ca. Retrieved 2025-07-14.
  4. ^ MILES CORAK (May 4, 2012). "A fast way to lower jobless rate: Use U.S. metrics". Globe and Mail.
  5. ^ "Canadian Unemployment Rates". Dave Manuel. Retrieved October 11, 2012.
  6. ^ "The downturn was precipitated by a rise in interest rates to levels that exceeded the record rates recorded a year earlier." Congressional Budget Office, "The Prospects for Economic Recovery," February 1982.
  7. ^ Canada, Bureau of the Census, Unemployment Vol. VI (Ottawa 1931), 1,267
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