Average weekly earnings climb yet fewer open jobs signal cooling demand
Canada’s employment landscape in August 2025 showed little movement, according to the latest release by Statistics Canada.
The total number of employees on payrolls edged up by just 3,300 (+0.0 %) compared with July, following a modest gain of 25,600 (+0.1 %) in the previous month. Year-over-year, payroll employment rose by just 31,500 (+0.2 %).
Average weekly earnings climbed by 3.0 % to $1,312 in August, continuing a pattern of annual growth (though monthly earnings were unchanged). At the same time, the average weekly working hours dipped to 33.3 hours—virtually unchanged month-to-month but down 0.6 % compared with last year.
Despite steady earnings and employment, the number of job vacancies slipped to 457,400 in August, a drop of 11,300 or -2.4 %, the lowest level since August 2017. The job-vacancy rate held at 2.6 %, unchanged from July but down 0.4 percentage points year-over-year.
The ratio of unemployed persons to job vacancies increased to 3.5 in August (up from 3.3 in July), the highest such figure since November 2016 (excluding COVID-data gaps). Over the past year this ratio rose by 0.7, reflecting a drop in job openings and an increase in unemployed individuals (+116,300; +7.9 %) while the unemployment rate climbed from 6.7 % to 7.1 %.
Breaking the data down by sector, payroll employment rose in public administration (+5,000; +0.4 %), construction (+2,300; +0.2 %), administrative and support services (+1,600; +0.2 %) and management of companies (+900; +0.7 %). Offsetting those gains were losses in retail trade (-4,600; -0.2 %), wholesale trade (-3,300; -0.4 %), and professional, scientific and technical services (-2,600; -0.2 %) among others.
Regionally, earnings growth varied — for example, in Alberta average weekly pay was $1,363.53 up just 0.8 % year-over-year, while Prince Edward Island saw its earnings grow by 5.8 % to $1,150.61.
The next batch of SEPH data, covering September, is scheduled for release on November 27.
