Statistics Canada released its Labour Force Survey for September 2026 on Friday, 9 October. Employment fell by 68,000 (−0.3%), and the unemployment rate rose 0.1 percentage points to 6.5%. The employment rate slipped 0.2 points to 60.6%. The survey’s reference week was 13 to 19 September.
Two straight monthly declines total 110,000 jobs. Over twelve months, employment is still up 95,000.
The headline numbers
- Employment: −68,000 in September, split between full-time (−35,000) and part-time (−33,000). August was −42,000. Before that, employment rose 181,000 from April to July.
- Unemployment rate: 6.5%, up from 6.4% in July and August. It peaked at 6.9% in April and was also 6.5% in January.
- Participation rate: 64.8%, down 0.2 points. StatCan says that is the lowest since December 1997, excluding the 2020 pandemic, and attributes most of the year-over-year decline to population aging.
- Layoffs: the layoff rate was 0.7%, close to a year earlier (0.6%). Together with the falling job-finding rate, the data point to slower hiring rather than a jump in layoffs.
Public sector down, private sector flat
The number of public-sector employees fell 70,000 (−1.5%) in September, the fourth monthly decline in a row, and is down 119,000 (−2.6%) from a year earlier, mostly in educational services. Private-sector employees were little changed for a second month and are up 163,000 (+1.2%) year over year. Self-employment edged down 23,000.
By industry, employment fell in educational services (−35,000), health care and social assistance (−23,000), the sector’s first monthly drop since December 2022, and manufacturing (−13,000). “Other services”, which include repair and personal services, rose 17,000. Educational-services employment is down 67,000 (−4.2%) from September 2025, concentrated in Quebec (−27,000), Ontario (−19,000) and Alberta (−17,000).
By province
- Quebec: −49,000 (−1.1%) after −19,000 in August. Employment is down 130,000 (−2.8%) since January, and unemployment rose to 6.0%.
- British Columbia: −20,000 (−0.7%), its first monthly drop since March. Unemployment is 6.4%.
- Ontario: −20,000 (−0.2%), but up 86,000 on the year. Unemployment is 7.0%, the highest of the large provinces.
- Alberta: +23,000 (+0.9%) and up 76,000 (+2.9%) on the year. Unemployment fell 0.4 points to 6.4%.
- Manitoba lost 4,400. Newfoundland and Labrador (+1,800) and Prince Edward Island (+1,000) gained.
What this piece refuses
Do not call this a recession. The LFS measures jobs, not output, and year-over-year employment is still up 95,000. Do not say Canada lost 110,000 jobs “in September”: that is the two-month total (68,000 + 42,000). Do not add the public-sector (−70,000), private-sector and self-employment changes to the total as if they were separate job losses; they are class-of-worker estimates from the same survey. StatCan also cautions that monthly LFS changes carry sampling variability and that it reports changes significant at the 68% confidence level.
Contested: Opposition parties and some commentators will read two months of losses, falling public-sector payrolls and weak youth hiring as a turn in the economy. Others will point to the 12-month gain, a steady layoff rate and Alberta’s growth. StatCan takes no side, and neither does this piece. The next release, for October, is due 6 November 2026.
Bottom line
Verified as of 9 October 2026: Canada shed 68,000 jobs in September after losing 42,000 in August. Unemployment is 6.5%, participation is at its lowest since 1997 outside the pandemic, and public-sector employees fell 70,000. Young workers and Quebec took the largest losses; Alberta gained. Watch the October LFS on 6 November.
