BREAKING · CANADIAN ECONOMY
Canada lost an estimated 68,300 jobs in September 2026, while the unemployment rate rose to 6.5%, according to Statistics Canada’s Labour Force Survey released October 9. Both full-time and part-time employment fell.
The precise decline appears in the agency’s national labour force table. Its headline release rounds the figure to 68,000. These are seasonally adjusted estimates.
Canada’s September 2026 jobs report: the key numbers
- Net employment change: −68,300, or −0.3%.
- Full-time employment: −35,400.
- Part-time employment: −32,900.
- Unemployment rate: 6.5%, up from 6.4% in August.
- Employment rate: 60.6%, down from 60.8%.
Younger workers accounted for much of the decline: employment among people aged 15 to 24 fell by 48,100. Employment among women aged 25 to 54 declined by 27,900.
Education, health care and manufacturing lose jobs
The industry breakdown shows declines of 35,300 in educational services, 23,100 in health care and social assistance, and 12,700 in manufacturing.
Other services, a category including repair, maintenance and personal services, added 17,000. Across industries, public-sector employee numbers fell by 70,000. That measure overlaps with the industry totals and should not be added to them.
Quebec and B.C. fall; Alberta adds jobs
The national result masks a regional split. Statistics Canada’s provincial table reports employment declines of 49,400 in Quebec, 20,200 in British Columbia and 4,400 in Manitoba.
Alberta moved in the other direction, gaining 23,100 jobs. Newfoundland and Labrador added 1,800, and Prince Edward Island added 1,000. A national jobs headline therefore does not describe the same experience in every provincial labour market.
A second monthly decline, with employment still higher than a year ago
September followed an estimated 41,700-job decline in August, shown in the previous month’s table. Despite those two monthly falls, national employment remained 94,900 higher than in September 2025.
The 68,300 figure measures a net change in employed people. It is not a count of individual layoff notices. Statistics Canada’s survey covers the reference week of September 13 to 19, rather than every day of the month.
The next Labour Force Survey release is scheduled for November 6, 2026. It will provide the October employment figures.
Follow more Canadian business and economy coverage, or get selected stories through The NorthScope Brief.
Photo: Bank of Canada headquarters, Ottawa (2015), shankar s., CC BY 2.0. File photograph; resized and cropped for display.
.jpg){kind=link}