Canada added 14,000 jobs in March, but the country’s unemployment rate remained unchanged at 6.7 per cent, Statistics Canada said Friday.
While the employment was “little changed” last month, it comes on the back of a loss of 84,000 jobs in February, which raised the unemployment rate from 6.5 per cent to 6.7 per cent.
Job growth was led by a category the agency calls “other services,” which includes repair and maintenance work in the economy, as well as the professional, scientific and technical services and natural resources industries.
Canada’s natural resources sector saw a three per cent increase, adding 10,000 new jobs. Nearly half of those jobs came from Alberta alone.
The tariff-sensitive manufacturing industry eked out a few thousand job gains in March, while the finance, insurance, real estate and leasing sector led last month’s losses.
While employment in health care was little changed compared with last month, the sector added 94,000 new jobs compared with the same time last year. Over the same period, Canada shed 44,000 manufacturing jobs.
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Canadians earned higher hourly wages in March compared with the same time last year, with average hourly wages rising 4.7 per cent — a jump from 3.9 per cent in February and the fastest pace in 18 months.
The unemployment rate was steady across age groups.
For people in the “core working age” group – ages 25 to 54 – the unemployment rate was largely unchanged at 5.8 per cent.
While youth unemployment rose 1.3 percentage points in February, to 13.8 per cent, it was unchanged for youth between the ages of 15 and 24. The figure was below the recent high of 14.6 per cent recorded in September 2025.
For Canadians over 55, the unemployment rate was 4.9 per cent in March.
Canada’s economy “still faces headwinds” in the future, RBC economist Nathan Janzen said in a note Friday.
“Trade uncertainty remains ahead of negotiations to extend CUSMA this summer, and higher energy prices are cutting into household purchasing power,” Janzen said.
— with files from The Canadian Press
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