Highlights
- According to Statistics Canada’s Labour Force Survey (LFS), the Québec City census metropolitan area (CMA) registered an unemployment rate of 3.1% in 2019, the lowest rate in Canada.
- The region’s labour market reached a historical high of 459,500 jobs, thanks to the creation of 6,900 jobs compared to the previous year (+1.5%). In comparison, the labour market grew by over 1.8% and 2.1% in the province of Québec and Canada, respectively.
- The CMA’s labour force gained 3,600 people, a third annual increase.
- Data shows that the number of jobs continued to grow in the province in 2019, registering a total of 77,700 new jobs, while the unemployment rate reached 5.1%.
Commentary
The year 2019 was a good year for the labour market in the Québec City census metropolitan area (CMA), registering positive results for the fourth year in a row. Although the key indicators are less impressive than in 2018, they remained significant this past year.
According to Statistics Canada’s Labour Force Survey (LFS), the region reached a historical high of 459,500 people employed in 2019, thanks to an increase of 6,900 jobs compared to the previous year (+1.5%). This performance is inferior to the provincial (+1.8%) and Canadian (+2.1%) rates. Labour scarcity seems to have slowed labour market expansion in the region in 2019. In fact, the unemployment rate dropped to a historical low of 3.1%, allowing Québec City to maintain its leading position in the country in this regard. The percentage of job seekers remained below the 4% threshold for the second year in a row. This evolution illustrates the situation of full employment and labour scarcity observed in the region. In 2019, the labour force reached a level that had never been seen before with 474,100 people, a growth of 3,600 people. Over the same period, the number of unemployed people continued to decline. The shrinking unemployment rate is explained by a higher increase in the number of jobs than in the labour pool.
The context of labour scarcity is also reflected in the region’s participation rate and employment rate, which grew slightly in 2019, reaching 68.9% and 66.8% respectively. Labour force activity in Québec City remains among the highest in the country, these two rates placing the CMA in the leading group in Canada.
Émile Émond
Economist
Québec International
