Canada Employment Research Brief

Job gains beat expectations. Canada’s labour market strengthened in December as lower interest rates began to feed through, with the economy adding 91,000 jobs. This was well above the consensus estimate of 25,000 and was the largest employment gain in two years. At the same time, Canada’s population growth slowed to its lowest reading since early 2023, suggesting that the government’s new immigration policies are working. The combination of strong job gains and easing labour force growth drove the unemployment rate down 10 basis points to 6.7 per cent. This was nevertheless a small change relative to the 90-basis-point increase for the full year, driven by strong resident gains earlier in 2024. Canada’s labour market did show healthy gains last year, however, by adding 413,000 jobs — a 2.0 per cent yearly increase — which largely aligns with 2023 figures.