Canada payroll employment falls in August as job vacancies hold steady

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Canada payroll drops August

Highlights

Canada's payroll employment fell 0.3% in August with losses across 10 of 20 sectors, led by public administration down 22,300 positions or 1.6%.
Average weekly earnings rose 0.5% month-over-month and 3.7% year-over-year nationally to $1,354.55 in August, with continued provincial wage growth.
Job vacancies remained stable in August, up 5.4% year-over-year, indicating steady but uneven labour demand across sectors.

August labour data and sector shifts

As reported by Statistics Canada, payroll employment decreases by 0.3% in August from the previous month, while year-over-year growth stands at 0.3%. The agency says the decline is spread across 10 of 20 sectors, with the largest drop in public administration, down 22,300 positions, or 1.6%.

Accommodation and food services loses 6,800 jobs in August, with the decline concentrated in full-service restaurants. Information and cultural industries falls by 5,000 after cumulative gains from December 2025 to July 2026, with telecommunications and motion picture industries showing notable variation.

Construction payrolls decrease by 4,500 in the month, although Alberta and Quebec still post year-over-year gains. Retail trade also records a decline, falling by 4,400 positions in August.

Wage growth persists across provinces

Average weekly earnings increase by 0.5% from July and by 3.7% from a year earlier, reaching $1,354.55 nationally in August. The figures indicate pay growth continues even as payroll counts weaken and vacancies remain relatively flat.

Among the provinces, Alberta posts average weekly earnings of $1,404.59, Ontario reaches $1,395.60 and British Columbia comes in at $1,369.91. New Brunswick records one of the strongest annual earnings increases at 6.0%, while British Columbia rises 5.2% and Manitoba gains 5.1%.

In the territories, Nunavut has the highest average weekly earnings at $1,889.22, followed by the Northwest Territories at $1,778.73 and Yukon at $1,538.93. The stable level of job vacancies, up 5.4% from a year earlier, suggests labour demand in Canada is no longer falling sharply but remains uneven across sectors.

In our earlier article on early-career job-hopping and wage growth, we examined research showing that switching jobs in the first years of a career can account for a large share of workers’ pay gains and lead to better long-term job matches. The piece argued that avoiding early moves may limit earnings progression, highlighting a gap between cultural skepticism toward frequent job changes and evidence that mobility can improve pay and stability over time.

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