Unemployment Rate Stays Unchanged as Canada’s March Job Gains Mask a Deeper Slowdown

Canada added 14, 000 jobs in March, but the unemployment rate stayed unchanged at 6. 7%, a sign that the labour market recovered only a fraction of February’s damage. Statistics Canada said the gain followed a loss of 84, 000 jobs in February, leaving the latest figures more like a pause than a true turnaround.

What does the March jobs report really show?

Verified fact: employment was little changed overall, even after March’s increase. The unemployment rate held at 6. 7% across age groups, including 5. 8% for core working-age Canadians aged 25 to 54, 13. 8% for youth aged 15 to 24, and 4. 9% for Canadians over 55. The return of job growth did not erase the earlier drop, and the labour market remained uneven beneath the headline number.

Informed analysis: the March figures suggest stabilization, not strength. When a modest gain follows a much larger loss, the market can appear calmer without becoming healthier. That is why the unemployment rate matters as much as the raw employment change: it captures whether available workers are being absorbed fast enough to change the underlying trend.

Which sectors drove the gains, and which ones slipped?

Job growth in March was led by “other services, ” a category that includes repair and maintenance work, alongside professional, scientific and technical services and natural resources. Canada’s natural resources sector rose by 3 per cent, adding 10, 000 jobs, with nearly half of those gains coming from Alberta. The tariff-sensitive manufacturing industry added only a few thousand jobs, while finance, insurance, real estate and leasing led the month’s losses.

Health care was little changed from February, yet it added 94, 000 jobs compared with the same time last year. Over that same year-long period, Canada shed 44, 000 manufacturing jobs. Those two facts point in different directions: one sector is expanding, while another has been under sustained pressure. The unemployment rate, therefore, is not being driven by a single industry but by a mix of offsetting movements.

Why did wages rise even as hiring remained weak?

Average hourly wages rose 4. 7% in March compared with the same month last year, up from 3. 9% in February and the fastest pace in 18 months. Hours worked edged up 0. 2%, and wage growth accelerated further for permanent employees, reaching 5. 1% from 4. 2% a month earlier. Those numbers matter because they show that pay is still moving upward even while employment growth remains fragile.

Verified fact: the labour force participation rate held at 64. 9%, while the Canadian working-age population increased by 11, 000 in March. The core 25-to-54 participation rate edged higher to 88. 2% from 88. 1%. These shifts help explain why the unemployment rate did not fall more sharply: more people remained in, or entered, the labour market at the same time that hiring improved only modestly.

Who is being helped, and who is still under pressure?

Statistics Canada said the unemployment rate was steady across age groups, but the details show an uneven picture. Youth unemployment had risen 1. 3 percentage points in February to 13. 8%, and March left that figure unchanged. For older Canadians, the rate held at 4. 9%. In the core working-age group, the 5. 8% rate remained largely unchanged.

Regionally, British Columbia stood out on the weak side. Employment fell by 19, 000 there, and the unemployment rate rose 0. 6 percentage points to 6. 7%, the highest level since February. That regional setback matters because national stability can hide local stress. A steady unemployment rate does not mean every province, age group, or sector is experiencing the same reality.

What should be watched next?

RBC economist Nathan Janzen said Canada’s economy still faces headwinds, pointing to trade uncertainty ahead of negotiations to extend CUSMA this summer and higher energy prices that are cutting into household purchasing power. That assessment fits the March labour data: gains were real, but they were not broad enough to remove the pressure created by February’s losses or the weaker backdrop still facing the economy.

Accountability question: the central issue is not whether March was better than February, but whether the recovery is durable enough to hold the unemployment rate down without relying on narrow sector gains. The evidence so far says Canada has steadied, not solved, its labour market problem. Until hiring broadens beyond a few pockets and the weakness in manufacturing and some regional markets eases, the unemployment rate will remain the clearest warning signal in the data.

For now, the March report offers a restrained message: Canada added jobs, wages strengthened, and the unemployment rate held at 6. 7%. But the underlying picture still points to a labour market that is fragile, uneven, and vulnerable to the next shock.