Canada Sheds 18,000 Jobs in April as Unemployment Rate Climbs to 6.9 Percent

People attend a job and continuing education fair in Montreal on Oct. 5, 2023. The Canadian Press/Christinne Muschi

Canada’s economy lost 18,000 jobs and saw the unemployment rate increase to 6.9 percent in April, according to labour force survey data released May 8 by Statistics Canada.

The news came in the wake of 14,000 new jobs and a 6.7 percent unemployment rate reported in March and was mainly created by more people entering the labour force and looking for work, according to StatCan.

Statistics Canada similarly noted that the monthly layoff rate in April remained “in-line with the pre-pandemic average,” suggesting there had not yet been a broader surge in permanent job cuts.

StatCan also reported that the share of Canadians aged 15 and older who are employed fell to 60.5 percent in April, matching a low last reached in August 2025.

The rise in the unemployment rate and loss in positions came with the Bank of Canada’s decision to keep its overnight lending rate steady at 2.25 percent in April, the fourth consecutive rate hold after quarter-point cuts in September and October of last year.

At the time of deciding to keep the rate at 2.25 percent in April, the bank said it was monitoring the situation in the Middle East and the effect of economic uncertainty caused by American tariffs and trade policy.

Reactions

Conservative MP Garnett Genuis, his party’s employment critic, called the latest job numbers “troubling news.”

“Today’s unemployment numbers bring more troubling news. It’s more job losses, more pain, more of the same,” Genuis said May 8 in the House of Commons, adding that his party has “constructive solutions.”

The party has called for cutting taxes and red tape, aligning immigration with labour market demand, prioritizing student aid for in-demand fields, and incentivizing companies to build workforce housing near job sites.

Liberal MP Ryan Turnbull, who serves as parliamentary secretary to the minister of finance, said that the reality of Canada being in a “trade war” includes economic impacts and said his party is doing the work to support workers.

“Being in a trade war means we’re all rightly concerned about jobs in Canada,” Turnbull said.

As examples, Turnbull cited the government’s spring economic update plan to incentivize the hiring and training of up to 100,000 skilled trades workers and the government-funded Canada Summer Jobs program, which he said has “offered 100,000 youth jobs across the country.”

Big Picture

Although Canada posted a gain of 67,000 jobs between April 2025 and April 2026, it has lost 112,000 positions from January to April of this year, the majority in wholesale trade and manufacturing.

The most recent similar four-month slide in employment happened between October 2020 and January 2021 during the pandemic.

Statistics Canada said the net job losses over the first four months of 2026 were mainly in full-time work, which shed 111,000 positions over the period.

The last similar decline before the pandemic was in 2009 when the country shed 241,000 jobs in four months.

At the provincial level, Ontario posted a gain of 42,000 jobs in April, partially offsetting a sharp decline of 67,000 jobs in the province in January. The April gains were mainly due to hiring increases in health care and social assistance services aimed at supporting vulnerable individuals and communities, according to Statistics Canada. Quebec, meanwhile posted a loss of 43,000 jobs, especially in retail and wholesale.

An additional statistic cited in the May 8 Statistics Canada report noted that hourly wages in Canada went up 4.5 percent between April 2025 and April 2026, while youth unemployment remained elevated, rising well above the pre-pandemic average to 14.3 percent among Canadians aged 15–24.

The Canadian Press contributed to this report.