By Nojoud Al Mallees
(Bloomberg) — The Canadian economy added 53,600 jobs in November, marking the third consecutive month of surprisingly strong job gains as U.S. tariffs otherwise slow down activity.
Statistics Canada’s labour force survey shows the unemployment rate fell to 6.5% last month, the lowest since July 2024 and down from 6.9% in October. It’s the biggest percentage point change in the unemployment rate since 2022.
Economists surveyed by Bloomberg were expecting employment to fall by 2,500 and for the unemployment rate to tick up to 7%.
The employment increase last month was driven by part-time work, as well as the private sector. Health care and social assistance led the job gains, with employment rising by 46,000 in that sector.
The loonie surged to its strongest mark since September, rising 0.5% to C$1.3883 per U.S. dollar as of 9:36 a.m. in Ottawa. Canadian bonds slid across the curve and trailed major peers, with the two-year yield rising about 17 basis points to 2.64%.
Traders in overnight swaps dropped bets on additional easing from the Bank of Canada. Instead, they’ve started to price interest rate hikes from the central bank over the next year, with a quarter percentage-point hike expected by December 2026.
The latest employment figures suggest the job market is faring better than many had expected when the U.S. first launched a trade war against Canada.
Cumulatively, the economy has added more than 180,000 jobs between September and November, marking the strongest three-month period for job gains since about a year ago. The employment increase has also more than reversed job losses over Canada’s summer months.
What Bloomberg strategists say…
“The Canadian dollar is poised to gain more ground against the greenback as the latest labour trends signals firming momentum in the economy at a time when the U.S. is seeing the opposite. The spread between the countries’ two-year yields has narrowed to its tightest since August after Canada’s November employment report blew past expectations. That’s poised to further support the loonie.”
— Tatiana Darie, macro strategist, Markets Live. For the full analysis click here.
And while 2025 has been a relatively challenging year for young people in the job market, November’s report shows employment gains were heavily concentrated among those between the ages of 15 and 24. That helped bring the young unemployment rate down to 12.8%, after reaching a high of 14.7% this year.
The drop in the unemployment rate was partly driven by Canada’s labour force shrinking by 25,700 on the month. That pushed the participation rate down to 65.1%. Prime Minister Mark Carney’s government has maintained immigration curbs brought in by his predecessor after population growth surged following the pandemic.
“A significant cool-down in population growth, and thus the labour force, is a major factor behind the reduced pressure on the jobless rate,” Doug Porter, chief economist at Bank of Montreal, said in a report to investors. He noted the adult population grew at a 3% annual pace in 2023-24, but slowed to 1% in the past six months and is headed lower yet.
Gross domestic product data last week also showed the economy grew much faster than economists had forecast, expanding at an annualized rate of 2.6% in the third quarter. However, the details beneath the headline growth figure reinforced the idea that the economy is showing signs of weakness as U.S. tariffs destabilize strategic sectors — final domestic demand fell 0.1%, household consumption dropped 0.4% and business investment was flat.
The Bank of Canada is widely expected to hold its key interest rate steady at 2.25% next week after Governor Tiff Macklem said rates were likely at “about the right level” to support the economy while containing inflation.
The job market continued an impressive streak of hiring in November, Andrew Grantham, senior economist at Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, said in a report to investors. However, he cautioned the fairly weak composition of job gains.
“While we doubt that the labour market is quite as strong as today’s headline data suggests (given the somewhat concentrated job gains and decline in participation that flattered the unemployment rate), today’s release is still supportive of our assumption that the Bank of Canada’s rate cutting cycle has ended,” Grantham said.
Overall, the report shows a resilient labour market despite weak economic growth and the headwinds caused by the U.S. tariffs, argued Charles St-Arnaud, chief economist at Servus Credit Union.
“It seems that the reduction in uncertainty in recent months may be helping an improvement in the economy,” he said in an email.
“The rebound in the labour market and signs that economic activity could be improving confirms that the Bank of Canada is very likely to keep its policy rate unchanged at next week’s meeting and suggest it could be on hold for a extended period.”
Fragile job security
Still, Friday’s job report suggests many Canadians feel less secure in their employment. The survey shows 73.6% of Canadian workers felt secure in the jobs, down 4.1 percentage points from two years ago.
The largest decline in perceived job security was among workers in public administration, coinciding with the federal government’s efforts to downsize its staff. Employees in sectors that are dependent on U.S. demand for Canadian exports were also less likely to feel secure in their jobs, compared with workers in other industries.
Friday’s job report shows annual wage growth for permanent employees held steady at 4%, in line with economists’ expectations.
Total hours worked in November increased 0.4% on a monthly basis, and were up 1.2% compared to a year ago.
Provincially, Alberta had the largest job gain last month, with employment rising by 29,000 from October and by 105,000 from a year ago.
–With assistance from Mario Baker Ramirez, Carter Johnson and Erik Hertzberg.
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Last modified: December 5, 2025
