Canada's unemployment rate ticked up to 6.9% in April, matching pre-pandemic high | Breaking News and Top Canadian Stories

Canada's unemployment rate ticked up to 6.9% in April, matching pre-pandemic high — Canada's unemployment rate ticked up to 6.9 per cent in April, Statistics Canada said on Friday, matching the highest rate seen in eight years outside...

Canada's unemployment rate ticked up to 6.9 per cent in April, Statistics Canada said on Friday, matching the highest rate seen in eight years outside of the pandemic.

The economy added a very slight 7,400 jobs during the month. Most of the increase was due to temporary workers hired in the public sector to work on the federal election, and but there were also job gains in finance, insurance, real estate, rental and leasing.

Those numbers were offset by lower employment in the manufacturing sector, which lost 31,000 jobs as tariff uncertainty related to the U.S. trade war engulfed the industry. The wholesale and retail trade sector lost 27,000 jobs.

Ontario in particular was walloped by the loss of manufacturing jobs, posting the largest decline of any province in this sector with 33,000 jobs lost.

Windsor, Canada's car capital, saw its unemployment rate tick up to 10.7 per cent as a U.S. tariff on automobiles went into effect.

The unemployment rate last hit 6.9 per cent in November 2024, a high that — outside of the figures seen at the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic — had not been reached since January 2017. In March, the rate stood at 6.7 per cent.

Those who were unemployed had a harder time finding work in April than they did a year earlier, StatsCan noted.

"The share of workers being laid off may increase during periods of economic downturn or disruption. Among those who were employed in March 2025, 0.7 [per cent] had become unemployed in April due to a layoff," it said.

More young men were searching for work in April, which sent the unemployment rate for that age group (15-24) up slightly.

Average hourly wages grew 3.4 per cent in April (or $1.20, to $36.13) — up from the same time a year earlier but at a slower rate than March's 3.6 per cent.

"It doesn't take an archeological dig to realize this is a weak report," wrote Doug Porter, chief economist at Bank of Montreal, in a note to clients.

"This is the first major data reading for April, and it shows that tariffs are already taking a material bite out of the economy," he wrote, adding that the report increases the odds of a 25-basis point interest rate cut by the Bank of Canada in June.

Journalist

Jenna Benchetrit is the senior business writer for CBC News. She writes stories about Canadian economic and consumer issues, and has also recently covered U.S. politics. A Montrealer based in Toronto, Jenna holds a master's degree in journalism from Toronto Metropolitan University. You can reach her at jenna.benchetrit@cbc.ca.

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