‘Data for Business’ is an effort of the Langley Chamber, in partnership with the Canadian Chamber’s Business Data Lab, to bring our members reports, stats, and analysis on economic and business data to help inform business and investment decisions. Read our latest update below:

Canada’s labour market again outperformed expectations in November, posting a third consecutive month of job gains and adding 54,000 positions, though largely in part-time roles. Over the past three months, part-time employment has increased at a faster rate (+2.7%; +103,000) than full-time employment (+0.5%; +78,000).

The national unemployment rate edged down to 6.5%, supported by strong youth employment and continued momentum in key service-sector industries such as health care, accommodation, and natural resources.  While some sectors, including wholesale and retail trade, saw pullbacks, the overall picture remains one of steady—if uneven—labour market resilience.

In British Columbia specifically, the economy added 6,200 jobs, marking a modest but positive month for the province’s labour market. The strongest gains came in professional, scientific and technical services, which increased by 9,400 positions, alongside solid growth in health care and social assistance with an additional 5,200 jobs. These increases helped offset declines in several key industries: transportation and warehousing fell by 3,300 jobs, and finance, insurance, real estate and leasing dropped by 6,800 positions.

The data also showed Canadians are feeling noticeably less secure in their jobs than they were two years ago, with the share of employees who believe they won’t lose their job in the next six months dropping to 73.6%, down 4.1 points from 2023. Confidence has weakened across all age groups, especially in sectors once considered stable—public administration, education, and professional services all saw sharp declines in perceived job security. Employees are also less confident about their ability to find comparable work if they were laid off: only 42.8% now say they could easily find another job with similar pay, a drop of 6.2 points. The sense of vulnerability is most acute in industries heavily tied to US demand, where both job security and perceived employability are significantly lower.
 
Key Takeaways:

• Employment Levels: Adding to the gains in September and October, net total employment in November is up by 142,000 (+0.7% ytd) from January 2025. In November alone, 54,000 jobs were added, bringing the three-month cumulative increase to 181,000.
• Unemployment and Participation Rates: November recorded the sharpest decline in the unemployment rate this year, falling 0.4 percentage points m/m to 6.5%. Despite the rise in employment, stricter immigration policies—particularly those affecting temporary foreign workers—reduced the size of the labour force by 21,000. This, in turn, pushed the participation rate down by 0.2 percentage points to 65.1%.
• Demographics and Job Types: Young workers once again accounted for the majority (92%) of November’s employment gains, adding 50,000 positions (+1.8%). The youth unemployment rate fell by 1.3 percentage points to 12.8%, the lowest level of 2025. However, these gains were exclusively in part-time roles. Full-time employment declined by 9,000 from the previous month, with little to no change in employment levels among core-aged and older workers. Although the unemployment rate for core-aged workers edged down by 0.2 percentage points, this was driven not by employment growth but by a reduction in the labour force, again linked to strict immigration controls.
• Sectoral Breakdown: Both goods-producing and services-producing sectors posted employment increases, though the gains were much stronger in services (+43,000) than in goods (+11,000). Year-to-date, employment in goods-producing industries is up 2.9% (seasonally unadjusted), compared with 2% growth in services-producing industries. By sector, health care and social assistance recorded the largest monthly increase, adding 46,000 jobs (+1.6% m/m), followed by accommodation and food services (+14,000) and the natural resources sector (+11,000).
• Provincial Trends: Alberta accounted for nearly 53% of total job growth in November (+29,000) and consequently saw a sharp decline in its unemployment rate, dropping to 6.5% — the lowest since April 2024. New Brunswick and Manitoba also posted modest employment gains (+5,500 and +4,500, respectively).