Highlights – May 2024
Data visualization
Employment evolution over one year
Sources: Statistics Canada, Table 14-10-0380-01, and Québec International.
Overview of employment in major Canadian regions
Analysis
Employment drop in Québec City
Statistics Canada’s Labour Force Survey (LFS) shows that there was a second consecutive drop in employment in May 2024. This time, the region lost 2,800 jobs (-0.6%) compared to April. The other indicators also fluctuated during the same period, with a drop of 2,400 people in the labour force (-0.5%) compared to the previous month.
In Canada, the labour market also varied slightly in May. In the province of Quebec, the employment rate lost 0.1 percentage points (pp), but it remained stable in Canada (0.0 pp).
The unemployment rate still among the lowest
Data shows that in May 2024, the unemployment rate in the Québec City census metropolitan area (CMA) grew slightly to 3.2%, the highest level registered since July 2023 (3.4%). Despite this increase, the region ranked among the Canadian CMAs with the lowest unemployment rates, behind Saguenay (1.8%) and before Thunder Bay (3.4%).
Positive annual results
Despite the decline in employment in May, cumulative growth over the past 12 months reached 11,400 jobs (+2.5%) in the Québec City region, bringing the total to 463,300 jobs. During this period, the sectors of business services, education, and other services (except public administration) registered the highest employment increases. However, drops were observed in the primary industries as well as in the finance and insurance, and information sectors.
Overall, the region’s labour market is doing better than at the same period last year. Indeed, data for May 2024 confirm that the Québec City CMA’s labour market is in a good state, while the unemployment rate remained very low. Finally, the participation rate of 67.4% and the employment rate of 65.3% indicate a relatively high level of participation of the population in the labour market.
El Hadji Nimaga
Economist
Québec International
