Manitoba sees decline in employment, fewer people looking for jobs

A stock photo of a 'help wanted' sign in a store window. (Pexels/Tim Mossholder)

New numbers out of Statistics Canada show that though Manitoba saw a decline in jobs last month, fewer people were looking for work.

The government agency released the October 2025 labour force survey on Friday, which reports that employment in the province dropped by 4,000 positions or 0.5 percentage points.

Statistics Canada also reports an unemployment rate drop of 0.4 percentage points in Manitoba as fewer people searched for work.

These shifts bring Manitoba’s employment rate to 62.4 per cent and unemployment rate to 5.8 per cent.

How Manitoba stacks up

The employment trends in Manitoba are not entirely reflective of what’s being seen in Canada.

Statistics Canada reports that Canada added 67,000 jobs last month, driving the unemployment rate down to 6.9 per cent. This marks Canada’s second consecutive month of jobs gains.

The government agency also reports employment growth was concentrated among men aged 25 to 54 and young people aged 14 to 24, with the wholesale and retail trade sector seeing the most amount of growth, with 41,000 positions added last month.

The full report is available online.

• With files from The Canadian Press