Update on the 2026 Canada Job Market: May Labour Force Survey

The latest Statistics Canada’s latest Labour Force Survey for May 2026 saw a positive change to Canada’s job market as employment increased by ~88,000 jobs (MoM +0.2%).

May’s survey reported that the Canadian unemployment rate decreased by 0.3 percentage points to 6.6 per cent in May, with the employment rate measuring 60.7 per cent. On a year-over-year basis, employment was up by +0.7 per cent in May, with 147,000 more people working compared to May 2025.

Table of Contents:

Job gains and losses in May 2026
Canada’s employment rate
Provincial unemployment breakdown
Remote work on the decline
Numbers you can count on

May 2026 Labour Force Survey Release Infographic

April 2026 Labour Force Release 88,000 jobs increased 6.6% unemployment rate (0.3 percentage point increase) 147,000 employment gains over 13 months Source: Statistics Canada - seasonally adjusted, May 2025- May 2026

For more context on the Canada job market's evolution over the past three months, check out the previous updates:

Update on the 2026 Canada Job Market: April Labour Force Survey

Update on the 2026 Canada Job Market: March Labour Force Survey

Update on the 2026 Canada Job Market: February Labour Force Survey

Read the latest Robert Half Labour Market Overview Insights on Canada’s job market data, updated monthly.

Job gains and losses in May 2026

Employment patterns continued to shift in 2026 and were broad-based across industries. The largest increases were in construction (+27,000 jobs), information, culture and recreation (+19,000 jobs), and transportation and warehousing (+19,000 jobs).

Other industries that reported job gains in May 2026, according to Statistics Canada, include:

Accommodation and food services (+17,000 jobs)

Manufacturing (+14,700 jobs)

Health care and social assistance (+13,100 jobs)

There were several reported decreases in this period as well. The largest of these by far was in wholesale and retail trade, which decreased by -35,000 jobs (-1.2 per cent). Other decreases include public administration (-8,200 jobs) and finance, insurance, real estate, rental and leasing (-7,300 jobs).

Canada’s employment increases in May 2026

Statistics Canada’s May 2026 Labour Force Survey reported the first significant employment gain since November 2025. Following a net decline of 112,000 jobs over the first four months of 2026, employment increased by 88,000 jobs in May—a 0.4 per cent increase.

This change was driven by an increase in full-time employment, with the number of full-time workers increasing by 154,000.

This brings the overall employment rate to 60.7 per cent. This rate was unchanged on a year-over-year basis in May 2026.

While the job market in Canada continues to fluctuate across many sectors, the unemployment rates for skilled professionals supported by Robert Half Canada’s staffing experts – continue to be below the national average:

Management occupations: no change at 1.3%

Business, finance, and administration occupations: down to 2.7% (from 2.9%)

Natural and applied sciences and related occupations: up to 2.9% (from 2.8%)

Occupations in education, law and social, community and government services: up to 2.2% (from 1.7%)

Sales and services occupations, except management: down to 4.7% (from 5.2%)

Provincial unemployment breakdown May 2026

Unemployment rates by province:

Newfoundland and Labrador: 9.6 per cent (-0.4 per cent)

Prince Edward Island: 6.7 per cent (-1.3 per cent)

Nova Scotia: 7.1 per cent (+0.8 per cent)

New Brunswick: 7.2 per cent (0.0 per cent)

Quebec: 5.6 per cent (-0.6 per cent)

Ontario: 7.0 per cent (-0.5 per cent)

Manitoba: 5.5 per cent (+0.5 per cent)

Saskatchewan: 6.2 per cent (+0.6 per cent)

Alberta: 6.6 per cent (-0.4 per cent)

British Columbia: 6.8 per cent (0.0 per cent)

Yukon: 6.3 per cent (+1.0 per cent)

Northwest Territories: 7.9 per cent (+1.1 per cent)

Nunavut: 12.5 per cent (+0.5 per cent)

Data for the territories are three-month moving averages and are not directly comparable with the provinces.

Employment in Ontario increased by 42,000 jobs in May. At the same time, the unemployment rate in Ontario fell 0.5 percentage points to 7.0 per cent, the lowest rate since September 2024.

British Columbia saw employment rise by 25,000 in May, but the unemployment rate in the province was unchanged at 6.8 per cent. In Alberta, employment increased by 14,000 (+0.5 per cent) in May, following three consecutive months of little variation.

On the other hand, employment fell in Saskatchewan (-6,100 jobs) in May. Despite the decline in the month, employment in the province was little changed compared with 12 months earlier.

Read Robert Half Job Market Updates to get a full picture of Canada’s Labour Force:

2026 Canada Job Market: April Labour Force Survey

2026 Canada Job Market: March Labour Force Survey

2026 Canada Job Market: February Labour Force Survey

Remote work on the decline

While the pandemic mandated working from home, that trend is now sharply reversing, with Canadian workers returning to the office or work sites outside of the home. In May 2026, the proportion of Canadians working exclusively outside of the home was 78.8 per cent, higher than the corresponding proportions in May 2025 (77.6 per cent) and May 2022 (75.0 per cent).

Only 11.4 per cent of employed Canadians reported working exclusively from home, down 1.0 per cent from the same month in 2025. Meanwhile, the proportion working in a hybrid arrangement rose from 6.4 per cent in May 2022 to 10.0 per cent in May 2023 and has varied little since then.

Numbers you can count on

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Our latest Demand for Skilled Talent report provides Canadian employers with the latest employment trends and challenges across six professional fields: finance and accounting, technology, marketing and creative, legal, administrative and customer support, and human resources.

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The 2026 Canada Salary Guide From Robert Half covers Canadian hiring and compensation trends across the six fields as well, incorporating exclusive data and input from surveys of thousands of Canadian workers and hiring managers, along with salary information for professionals we’ve matched with employers across the country.

Whether you’re launching a job search, actively hiring talent or developing a staffing strategy for your business, there’s no better source of insights into today’s salary and compensation trends than the 2026 Canada Salary Guide From Robert Half.