The unemployment rate rose 0.2 percentage points to 5.4% in June, following a similar increase (+0.2 percentage points) in May. The increase brought the rate to its highest level since February 2022 (when it was also 5.4%). There were 1.1 million people unemployed in June, an increase of 54,000 (+4.9%) in the month.
The population grew by 0.3%, the labour force rose by 0.5%, and employment increased by 0.3%. The participation rate increased by 0.2 percentage points to 65.7%.
Despite the successive increases in May and June, the unemployment rate in Canada remained below its pre-COVID-19 pandemic average of 5.7% recorded in the 12 months to February 2020.
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