Highlights – February 2024
Data visualization
Evolution of the key employment indicators over one
Sources: Statistics Canada. Table 14-10-0380-01, and Québec International.
Overview of employment in major Canadian regions
Analysis
Employment registered a slight drop in Québec City
Data from Statistics Canada’s Labour Force Survey (LFS) shows that employment registered a second consecutive drop in February 2024 in the Québec City region. Labour market indicators reveal that employment decreased slightly, with a net loss of 600 jobs (-0.1%), while the labour force also dropped slightly, with 200 (-0.04%) fewer people in the labour force compared to the previous month.
The employment rate registered a 0.2 percentage point (pp) drop, settling at 65.8%. The employment rate for the province of Quebec also remained relatively stable (-0.1 pp), dropping for the fourth month in a row, settling at 61.7%. In Canada, the employment rate also registered little variation (-0.1 pp), sitting at 61.6% in February 2024.
The unemployment rate remains low
The unemployment rate remains relatively low in the Québec City CMA, registering a slight increase in February 2024, reaching 2.9%. Despite this increase, the region maintains its second rank among Canadian CMAs in terms of the lowest unemployment rate, ahead of Guelph (3.9%) and a close second to Saguenay (2.5%). Compared to February 2023, the unemployment rate grew from 1.9% to 2.9% in the region.
Population growth continues while employment growth stalls
From December 2023 to February 2024, the Québec City region lost 900 jobs, while its population of people aged 15 years and over increased by 1,700. However, on a yearly basis (February 2023 to February 2024), the region registered a gain of 16,300 jobs, a higher increase than the increase in population (+9,700 people). Therefore, employment growth (+3.6%) is higher than population growth (+1.4%) in the Québec City region, while the situation is the opposite in Canada (+1.9% in employment and +3.1% in population).
El Hadji Nimaga
Économiste
Québec International
