Statistics Canada Says Most Workers Remain Confident in Employment Prospects Despite July's Job Losses

08:52 AM EDT, 08/08/2025 (MT Newswires) -- Canadian employment fell by 41,000, or 0.2% month-over-month, in July and the unemployment rate was unchanged at 6.9%, said the country's statistical agency in Friday's Labour Force Survey (LFS) .

July's employment losses were worse than the 15,300 job gains consensus provided by Mitsubishi UFG, which had a consensus unemployment rate of 7.0% in July.

The employment decline in the month was concentrated among youth aged 15 to 24 (-34,000; -1.2% month-over-month), noted Statistics Canada in a statement. Employment among core-aged (25 to 54 years old) people as well as among those aged 55 and older was little changed in July.

Employment was down across several industries, led by information, culture and recreation (-29,000; -3.3%) and construction (-22,000; -1.3%).

Based on additional questions asked in the LFS in July, a majority (54.9%) of employees aged 25 to 64 reported being very confident in their employment prospects in their current line of work, added StatsCan. Another 41.1% of employees were either quite confident or somewhat confident, while only 4.1% of employees reported not being confident (either not very confident or not at all confident).

Total hours worked in July were little changed both in the month (-0.2%) and compared with 12 months earlier (+0.3%). Average hourly wages among employees increased 3.3% (+$1.17 to $36.16) on a year-over-year basis in July, following growth of 3.2% in June (not seasonally adjusted), pointed out the Ottawa-based agency.

The LFS estimates are based on a sample and are therefore subject to sampling variability. As a result, monthly estimates will show more variability than trends observed over longer time periods. This analysis focuses on differences between estimates that are statistically significant at the 68% confidence level. LFS estimates at the Canada level don't include the territories.

The LFS estimates are the first in a series of labor market indicators released by StatsCan, which includes indicators from programs such as the Survey of Employment, Payrolls and Hours (SEPH); Employment Insurance Statistics; and the Job Vacancy and Wage Survey

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