In March, Canada lost 32,600 jobs, raising the unemployment rate to 6.7%. Full-time job losses, mainly in the private sector, were offset by part-time gains. Rising concerns over US tariffs and Canada’s retaliatory measures have made businesses cautious, impacting hiring and investment plans. Long-term unemployment rose, and wage growth slowed. As the Bank of Canada prepares for its April meeting, the economic outlook remains uncertain, with fears that ongoing trade tensions could push both countries into recession.
Canada shed jobs in March, pushing the unemployment rate higher at a time when businesses are increasingly wary of the fallout from the Trump administration’s approach to trade and its embrace of tariffs.
Employers in the country cut 32,600 jobs in February, Statistics Canada said Friday. With the labor market expanding only slightly for the month, this meant the unemployment rate ticked up to 6.7%, representing the first rise in four months after the rate held at 6.6% in the first two months of the year.
Canada relies heavily on the U.S. to buy crude oil, lumber and metals, and industries such as automotive manufacturing are tightly integrated between the two countries. Prime Minister Mark Carney, the former head of the Bank of Canada and the Bank of England, on Thursday warned Trump’s latest tariff drive risks the U.S. falling into recession, saying it would be difficult for Canada to avoid a similar fate.
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