OTTAWA, Feb. 7 (Xinhua) -- Canada's employment increased by 76,000, or 0.4 percent, in January for the third consecutive month, Statistics Canada said Friday.
Employment gains in January were led by manufacturing, and professional, scientific and technical services, the national statistical agency said.
The employment rate rose 0.1 percentage points to 61.1 percent, marking the third consecutive monthly increase, the agency said.
The unemployment rate declined 0.1 percentage points to 6.6 percent in January, marking the second consecutive monthly decline from a recent peak of 6.9 percent in November 2024, said the agency.
According to the agency, the unemployment rate had previously increased 1.9 percentage points from March 2023 to November 2024, as labor market conditions cooled after a period of low unemployment rates and high job vacancies following the COVID-19 pandemic.
Despite the decline in January, the youth unemployment rate remained elevated for racialized youth. The youth unemployment rate was up 5.2 percentage points to 15.2 percent for South Asian Canadians, up 3.9 percentage points to 16.6 percent for Chinese Canadians. Among Black youth, the unemployment rate was 18.6 percent in January, little changed from a year earlier, said Statistics Canada.
