Canada’s jobs numbers beat economists’ expectations in July, while the unemployment rate fell to its lowest level in two years, Statistics Canada said on Friday. The agency’s labour force survey said Canada added a surprising 75,000 jobs in July, blowing past expectations of economists in a Reuters poll, which predicted a modest 15,000-job gain. Those jobs were split between full- and part-time work. Statistics Canada said the country is now up 181,000 jobs since April, and 196,000 from a year ago. Canada’s unemployment rate ticked down 0.1 percentage points from June to 6.4 per cent. Statistics Canada said the unemployment rate is also down half a percentage point from a year ago as more people who are looking for work have been successful at finding jobs than this time last year. Most of July’s job gains were in the wholesale and retail trade sectors, which added 21,000 positions – though the sector is still down 50,000 jobs from a year ago. Finance, insurance, real estate, rental and leasing added 18,000 jobs last month, while professional, scientific and technical services added 17,000. The public administration sector shed 15,000 jobs last month, and the agricultural sector lost 9,600 jobs. Average hourly wages were up 2.8 per cent in July year-over-year. The unemployment rate among young people remained virtually unchanged in July at 12.6 per cent, Statistics Canada said, which is down 1.9 percentage points from a year ago. This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 7, 2026. By Nick Murray
