Canada lost 68,000 jobs in September, the second monthly drop in a row after 42,000 in August, and the unemployment rate rose to 6.5 per cent, according to Statistics Canada’s Labour Force Survey. The participation rate fell to 64.8 per cent, the lowest since December 1997 outside the pandemic year of 2020. The biggest losses were not in factories but in the public sector, where employment fell by 70,000, a fourth straight monthly decline. Educational services lost 35,000 jobs and health care and social assistance lost 23,000. Workers aged 15 to 24 lost 48,000 jobs, and Quebec lost 49,000, the largest decline of any province, while Alberta added 23,000. The losses came after 50 per cent U.S. tariffs took effect on Aug. 22, though Statistics Canada does not link them to the job losses. The Bank of Canada’s next rate decision is Oct. 28, and the next jobs report comes out Nov. 6.
Sources: Statistics Canada, Labour Force Survey, September 2026 (The Daily, Oct. 9, 2026), and tables 14-10-0287-01, 14-10-0288-01 and 14-10-0355-01; Bank of Canada, policy interest rate; Deloitte Canada outlooks via The Hub, HR Reporter and Investment Executive; Section 338 tariffs and Canada’s counter-tariffs via Gowling WLG, Thompson Hine and BDO; U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Employment Situation. Charts drawn by Canada News Media from these figures; photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited in the video.
Read our coverage: Canada loses 68,000 jobs in September, rate rises to 6.5%; U.S. adds 29,000 jobs in September as Canada loses 68,000; Job losses test Deloitte’s lowered growth forecast.
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