August jobs numbers revealed | Wealth Professional
Industry and regional breakdown
Employment declined in business, building and other support services (-20,000; -2.8%), public administration (-8,800; -0.7%), natural resources (-7,700; -2.3%) and utilities (-5,600; -3.5%) in August. Manufacturing was the only sector to record a significant increase, gaining 22,000 positions (+1.2%), with most of that increase (+14,000; +1.7%) in Ontario.
The number of public sector employees fell by 20,000 (-0.4%) in August, down for the third consecutive month. Since May, the number of public sector employees has declined by 78,000 (-1.7%).
Geographically, employment declined in Quebec (-19,000; -0.4%) and edged down in Ontario (-18,000; -0.2%). The decline in Quebec was concentrated in the census metropolitan area of Montréal (-21,000; -0.9%). Quebec was the only province to record a year-over-year employment decline, down 54,000 (-1.2%) from August 2025. New Brunswick posted a gain of 2,400 (+0.6%).
Tariff exposure and layoff trends
Statistics Canada noted that industries dependent on US demand for exports continue to face an uncertain economic context, compounded by the recent imposition of new US tariffs on Canadian exports. Over the 12 months to August, the layoff rate averaged 0.9 per cent for workers in industries dependent on US demand for exports, compared with 0.7 per cent for other industries over the same period.
The overall layoff rate was 0.8 per cent in August, slightly below the rate of 1.0 per cent observed 12 months earlier and similar to the average layoff rate of 0.9 per cent observed for the corresponding months from 2017 to 2019.
