Canada’s unemployment rate held at 6.7% in March 2026, unchanged from February and slightly below market expectations of 6.8%. The number of unemployed people edged up by 1,000 to approximately 1.5 million, while total employment increased by 14,200 to reach 21.1 million.
The employment rate remained stable at 60.6%, and the labour force participation rate was unchanged at 64.9%.
By industry, employment gains were concentrated in “other services” (+15,000; +1.9%)—a category that includes personal and repair services—and in natural resources (+10,000; +3.0%). These increases were partly offset by job losses in finance, insurance, real estate, rental, and leasing (-11,000; -0.8%).
Among youth aged 15 to 24, the unemployment rate was virtually unchanged at 13.8%, after having risen by 1.3 percentage points in February.
