Canada’s unemployment rate declined 0.3 percentage points to 6.6% in May as employment unexpectedly rose during the month.
Statistics Canada said that employment across the country increased by 88,000 net new jobs in May, pushing the employment rate up by 0.2 percentage points to 60.7%.
May’s job gains were much stronger than the 10,000 jobs that economists had expected for the month.
Employment grew in all major categories, core-aged women (up 31,000), core-aged men (up 25,000), and among youth aged 15 to 24 (up 22,000).
The unemployment rate for youth declined particularly sharply during the month, falling 0.9 percentage points to 13.4% as university students entered the labour force for the summer.
Employment increased in key industries such as construction (up 27,000), culture and recreation (up 19,000), transportation and warehousing (up 19,000) and food services (up 17,000).
Across Canada, employment gains were strongest in Ontario (up 42,000) and British Columbia (up 25,000). Saskatchewan was the only province to see employment decline (down 6,100).
Average hourly wages among workers increased 3% year-over-year in May to $37.24, following growth of 4.5% in April.
The rise in employment during May comes despite Canada entering a recession after registering no economic growth for six consecutive months.
