Little change in overall unemployment rate for October

The most recent release of Statistics Canada’s Labour Force Survey shows little change in the unemployment rate recorded for the month of October 2023. That rate rose by 0.2%, from 5.5% to 5.7%, with Statistics Canada noting that the change marked the fourth increase in the unemployment rate in the past six months.

While the months of August and September recorded significant gains in employment (40,000 in August and 64,000 in September), employment rose during October by only 18,000. Among demographic groups, there was little change in employment figures during October, with employment increasing only among men aged 55 and older.

Details of the employment picture for the month, by province, demographic group, and economic sector can be found in the November release of the Labour Force Survey, which is available on the StatsCan website at The Daily — Labour Force Survey, October 2023 (statcan.gc.ca).