Part-time jobs drive June employment rebound; students left behind

Canada’s job market saw growth for the first time in five months in June. However, the vast majority of new jobs were part-time positions.

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Canada’s job market saw growth for the first time in five months in June. However, the vast majority of new jobs were part-time positions.

Statistics Canada’s Labour Force Survey was released Friday morning and highlighted that 70,000 of the 83,000 new jobs in June were for part-time work.

The unemployment rate went down slightly, reaching 6.9 per cent, which remains the second-highest rate in the G7 behind only France. France posted a 7.1 per cent rate in May.

Among the provinces, Alberta led the way in job growth, adding 30,000 jobs (+1.2 per cent).

However, unlike the national trend, nearly all of them were full-time positions.

Alberta’s unemployment rate fell 0.6 percentage points to 6.8 per cent, while Ontario’s remained unchanged at 7.8.

Ontario saw some of the worst job growth in the nation. The province’s poor employment growth was partially due to a job market crisis in Windsor, where the unemployment rate climbed to 11.2 per cent.

Ongoing layoffs in the automotive sector due to U.S. tariffs have negatively affected Ontario’s job market, primarily in Windsor and Oshawa, home to the province’s car part manufacturing industry.

Canadian students who are struggling with unprecedented unemployment saw no relief in June.

The unemployment rate for students aged 15 to 24 rose to 17.4 per cent, up from last year (15.8 per cent).

The current rate marks the highest June rate recorded since 2009, at the end of the Great Recession, excluding the pandemic period.

The student labour market had already shown weak signs in May when the unemployment rate for returning students reached 20.1 per cent.

More than one in five unemployed Canadians in June had been looking for work for more than six months, up from 17.7 per cent a year ago.