The job market may have softened in Canada last month, but not in Greater Sudbury.
In its latest Labour Force Survey, Statistics Canada said the region added 200 full-time and 100 part-time jobs, leading “to an increase of 300 total jobs in August.”
If there is a downside to the August numbers, it would be that the rate of job growth in the city slowed significantly. In July, Sudbury added 1,400 total jobs, consisting of 300 more full-time jobs and 1,100 part-time positions.
The unemployment rate in Greater Sudbury also dropped in August – to 6.2 per cent, down 0.3 per cent from July.
StatsCan said Greater Sudbury’s unemployment rate stood 4.3 per cent below the peak from June 2020 and is below the long-run average.
In addition, “full-time employment has recovered since reaching a bottom in November 2025 and now stands at a record high.”
Nationally, the picture was not so rosy. Canada’s economy lost 68,000 jobs last month, pushing the unemployment rate up to 6.5 per cent, according to Statistics Canada.
StatsCan said the national unemployment rate rose by 0.1 per cent in September, following the loss of 42,000 jobs in August. Together, the losses nearly wiped out the employment gains recorded during the summer months.
The losses, the data says, were split almost evenly between full- and part-time positions, with Canada shedding 35,000 full-time jobs and 33,000 part-time positions in September.
Much of the monthly downturn came amid a fourth straight monthly decline in public sector employment. Canada lost 70,000 government jobs last month, a drop of 1.5 per cent.
Over the past year, public sector employment has fallen by about 119,000 jobs.
Young workers took the biggest hit, with Canadians aged 15 to 24 losing 48,000 jobs last month.
Those losses were partly offset by about 25,000 new private sector jobs, although StatsCan described private-sector employment as “little changed.”
As well, some sectors and regions still saw gains, with Alberta bucking the national trend by adding 23,000 jobs.
Quebec recorded the biggest losses, shedding 49,000 jobs, followed by British Columbia, which lost 20,000 positions.
In a joint statement, Conservative Employment Critic Garnett Genuis and Youth Critic Gabriel Hardy expressed concern about the declining share of Canadians still looking for work.
“Canada’s labour market participation fell to 64.8 per cent, the lowest since 1997 outside the pandemic,” the statement read.
“This means that a smaller share of Canadians are working or looking for work than at almost any point in nearly three decades.”
The Conservatives said September’s job losses were another warning sign of the struggles facing Canada’s economy under the Liberals.
“Canadians are facing higher costs of living, weak productivity growth and greater uncertainty about job opportunities.”
A government source that September’s low labour force participation rate, compared with last year and pre-pandemic levels, can largely be attributed to an aging population.
“Using a method that holds constant the Sept. 2019 age composition of the population, the participation rate in Sept. 2026 would be little changed (-0.1 percentage points) year over year, and would be 0.2 percentage points higher than in Sept. 2019,” the source said.
The source also said employment is up by 95,000 jobs from a year ago, average hourly wages have increased by 2.3 per cent year over year, and unemployment remains below April’s peak of 6.9 per cent.
“You would think the Conservatives, of all parties, would support 24,000 new private sector jobs last month,” the source said, adding that private sector employment had increased by 163,000 positions year over year.
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