Canada Jobs Report: 68,000 Lost in September

The Canada jobs report for September landed Friday with a thud: the economy lost roughly sixty-eight thousand jobs, wiping out every employment gain recorded earlier this year. If you are a student, a new grad or anyone job hunting in the Great White North, this one stings.

What the numbers actually say

According to Reuters, Canada shed a net sixty-eight thousand three hundred jobs in September, following a decline of forty-one thousand seven hundred in August. Analysts polled by Reuters had expected a gain of nine thousand two hundred. Instead, the country has now lost a net forty-one thousand two hundred jobs so far this year, compared with a gain of more than two hundred eleven thousand in the same stretch of last year.

The unemployment rate edged up a tenth of a point to six and a half per cent. Job losses were split almost evenly between full-time and part-time work, according to The Canadian Press, and September was the steepest single month of losses since February.

Young workers took the hit

Here is the part Gen Z should clock. Employment among people aged fifteen to twenty-four fell by forty-eight thousand in September, per both outlets. That is most of the headline drop landing on the youngest slice of the labour force.

Regionally, Quebec lost forty-nine thousand jobs, while Ontario and British Columbia each shed twenty thousand. Alberta bucked the trend and added twenty-three thousand roles. Educational services led the declines with thirty-five thousand lost positions, followed by health care and manufacturing.

Tariffs are not the whole story

September was the first full month after a new round of United States tariffs hit Canada, so blaming trade seems obvious. But economists are pushing back. Daniel Hyun, a senior economist at KPMG Canada, said in a note that most losses came from sectors not facing trade, so it would be premature to blame tariffs for the weakness.

According to Reuters, the biggest cuts were in the public sector, particularly health care, social assistance and education, as the government cut international student permits. Manufacturing, the sector more exposed to tariffs, lost a net twelve thousand seven hundred jobs. Robert Kavcic of BMO Capital Markets was blunt: "There's no way to sugar coat it. It's a very bad jobs print for September."

Why your rent and loonie care

The Canada jobs report also reshuffles the interest rate story. The Bank of Canada's next decision is set for October twenty-eighth, and its policy rate has sat at two and a quarter per cent for nearly a year. Market odds of a quarter-point hike this month fell to roughly twenty-five per cent from about forty per cent before the data, according to LSEG figures cited by The Canadian Press.

The Canadian dollar also took a beating, falling to its weakest level against the greenback since early 2025 and dipping briefly below seventy cents US. A weaker loonie makes imported stuff, from tech to groceries, pricier for everyone.

There is a twist, too. Average hourly wage growth for permanent employees sped up to two and three-tenths per cent year on year, and Desjardins strategist Royce Mendes said higher energy prices could feed other inflation and force tighter policy soon. Translation: weak jobs and sticky prices at the same time.

What to watch next

The labour force participation rate dropped to sixty-four and eight-tenths per cent, its lowest in twenty-nine years outside the pandemic, driven largely by an aging population and slower immigration. That means fewer people are even looking, which can hide how soft hiring really is.

Some economists say zooming out helps. Employers added one hundred eighty-one thousand positions from April through July, and Kavcic noted the job market is holding in relatively well once the monthly noise is smoothed out. Still, he expects tariffs to keep hiring subdued heading into the fourth quarter.

For young Canadians, the practical takeaway is to keep applying, lean on any co-op or internship networks, and watch the next Statistics Canada release. Catch more local coverage in our Canadian news section. Full reporting is at BNN Bloomberg (Reuters) and iNFOnews (The Canadian Press).