However, professional, scientific and technical services saw a -1.6% decline in jobs, along with a -2.1% drop in warehousing and transportation.
Aside from Nova Scotia, which saw a 0.8% decline in jobs, all other provinces saw a “virtually unchanged” job market according to StatCan.
With only 47,000 new Canadians aged 15 or older arriving over February, the slow job growth rate had little effect on Canada’s unemployment rate, which remained at 6.6%.
February’s major snowstorms also impacted the labour market, seeing actual hours worked decrease by 1.3%, the biggest drop since April 2022. According to StatCan, 429,000 Canadians lost hours of work due to the snowstorms which were ever-present throughout the month.
Average hourly wages did see a boost of from 3.5% in January to 3.8% in February, with the average national hourly wage now sitting at $36.14 per hour.
