July to September, 2024

Introduction

About the Ontario Employment Report

The Ontario Employment Report is released four times a year and provides an assessment of the current trends and developments in the Ontario labour market. The Ontario Employment Report is a companion report to the Ontario Economic Accounts, which provides an overall assessment of the current state of the Ontario economy.

Methodological note

In the current issue, year-over-year change represents change between the averages in the third quarter of 2023 and the third quarter of 2024. Note that the Ontario Economic Accounts report primarily shows changes between two consecutive quarters.

This report uses seasonally adjusted data in charts displaying data with a monthly frequency in the Overview section.

Unadjusted data are used in charts and tables showing the changes for the current quarter compared with the same quarter for the previous year. Unadjusted data are also used to calculate annual averages, year-to-date averages and 2024 third quarter averages. ^{footnote 1[1]}

All estimates in this report are based on Statistics Canada’s Labour Force Survey (LFS), which measures the current state of the national, provincial, and territorial labour market. The LFS is based on a household survey carried out monthly by Statistics Canada in reference weeks of each month. The reference periods for the three months of the third quarter of 2024 are July 14 to 20, August 11 to 17, and September 15 to 21.

Overview

Ontario’s labour market overview

Employment:

• +155,200 net jobs in Q3 2024, year-over-year
• +81,000 net full-time jobs in Q3 2024, year-over-year
• +43,200 net jobs in September 2024
• +49,800 net full-time jobs in September 2024

Unemployment rate:

• 7.5% in Q3 2024
• 6.9% in September 2024

Year-over-year, Ontario’s employment increased by 1.9% (+155,200) in the third quarter of 2024, while Canada’s employment grew by 1.6% (+334,700).

Ontario’s unemployment rate was 7.5% in the third quarter of 2024, higher than the Canadian rate of 6.8%.

In September 2024, Ontario’s employment increased (+43,200, +0.5%), driven by gains in full-time employment (+49,800, +0.8%). Canada’s employment experienced slower growth in September 2024 (+46,700, +0.2%).

In September 2024, the unemployment rate in Ontario declined to 6.9% from 7.1% in August 2024. The unemployment rate in Canada also decreased to 6.5% in September 2024 from 6.6% in the previous month.

Year-over-year overview

Ontario’s labour market, January 2014 - September 2024 (seasonally adjusted)

Between the third quarters of 2023 and 2024:

• Employment gains were driven by growth in both full-time employment (+1.2%) and part-time employment (+5.7%).
• Employment increased in all sectors: the private sector (+1.1%), the public sector (+ 3.5%) and the self-employed (+4.3%).
• Employment increased in services-producing industries (+3.4%) and declined in goods-producing industries (-3.9%).
• Employment increased in all five regions, with Southwestern Ontario (+3.0%) and Eastern Ontario (+3.0%) experiencing the highest rates of employment growth.
• Employment increased for core-aged workers (+3.5%) and youth (+1.1%), while employment of older workers (-2.2%) declined.
• Hourly wage growth (+5.5%) exceeded inflation (+2.3%).

Type of Work

Employment change by work status, Ontario, Q3 2024 over Q3 2023

Year-over-year, full-time employment increased by 1.2% and part-time employment increased by 5.7% in the third quarter of 2024.

Employment change by employment sector, Ontario, Q3 2024 over Q3 2023

Year-over-year, employment increased by 1.1% in the private sector, 3.5% in the public sector, ^{footnote 2[2]} and by 4.3% for the self-employed.

Employment change by above-average wage and below-average wage industries, Ontario, Q3 2024 over Q3 2023 ^{footnote 3[3]}

Year-over-year, paid employment increased by 3.1% in above-average wage industries and by 0.6% in below-average wage industries.

Sector and occupation

Employment change by industry, goods-producing industries, Ontario, Q3 2024 over Q3 2023

Employment in goods-producing industries declined (-3.9%) in the third quarter of 2024, compared to the same period in 2023. Employment declined in all goods-producing industries with the largest declines in construction (-6.4%), manufacturing (-1.3%) and agriculture (-10.2%).

Employment change by industry, services-producing industries, Ontario, Q3 2024 over Q3 2023

In the third quarter of 2024, employment in the services-producing industries (+3.4%) increased compared to the same period in 2023. All services-producing industries experienced employment growth except for wholesale and retail trade (-3.6%). Professional, scientific and technical services (+9.4%) experienced the largest employment gain, followed by finance, insurance, real estate, rental and leasing (+6.8%) and health care and social assistance (+3.9%).

Employment change by occupational group, Ontario, Q3 2024 over Q3 2023 ^{footnote 4[4]}

Year-over-year, occupations in education, law and social, community and government services experienced the largest employment gain (+7.9%), followed by natural and applied sciences and related occupations (+5.7%) and sales and service occupations (+1.8%). Business, finance and administration occupations was the only occupational group to experience a decline in employment (-3.2%).

Geographic region

Employment change by Ontario region, Q3 2024 over Q3 2023 ^{footnote 5[5]}

Year-over-year, employment increased in all five Ontario regions in the third quarter of 2024. The Greater Toronto Area (GTA) ^{footnote 6[6]} experienced the largest employment gain (+83,900, +2.2%), followed by Eastern Ontario (+31,200, +3.0%), Southwestern Ontario (+26,800, +3.0%), Northern Ontario (+6,800, +1.9%), and Central Ontario (+6,400, +0.3%). Southwestern Ontario (+3.0%) and Eastern Ontario (+3.0%) experienced the highest rates of employment growth.

Unemployment rates by Ontario region, Q3 2024 ^{footnote 7[7]}

In the third quarter of 2024, the unemployment rate increased in all regions. The GTA had the highest unemployment rate (8.6%), followed by Southwestern Ontario (7.1%), Eastern Ontario (6.4%), Central Ontario (6.3%), and Northern Ontario (5.8%).

Participation rates by Ontario region, Q3 2024 ^{footnote 8[8]}

Labour force participation rates ranged from 59.2% in Northern Ontario to 67.2% in the GTA in the third quarter of 2024. Year-over-year, labour force participation rates declined in some regions (the GTA and Central Ontario) and increased in the other regions (Eastern, Northern and Southwestern Ontario).

Age and gender

Employment change by age group and gender, Ontario, Q3 2024 over Q3 2023

Compared to the same quarter last year, employment increased for core-aged workers aged 25 to 54 years (+3.5%) and youth aged 15 to 24 years (+1.1%). Older workers aged 55 years and over (-2.2%) experienced a decline in employment.

Year-over-year, employment increased both for females (+2.2%) and males (+1.7%).

Unemployment rates by age group and gender, Ontario, Q3 2024

In the third quarter of 2024, youth had the highest unemployment rate (16.8%), followed by core-aged individuals (6.0%) and older individuals (5.2%). Compared to the same period last year, the unemployment rate increased for all age groups.

In the third quarter of 2024, the unemployment rate for males (7.4%) was lower than that of females (7.6%). Compared to the same period last year, the unemployment rate increased by 0.4 percentage point for females and 1.8 percentage points for males.

Participation rates by age group and gender, Ontario, Q3 2024

In the third quarter of 2024, core-aged individuals had the highest labour force participation rate (88.2%), followed by youth (64.5%) and older individuals (36.6%). Compared to the third quarter of 2023, the participation rate decreased for youth (-2.2) and older individuals (-1.1), while it edged up for core-aged individuals (+0.1).

Males had a higher participation rate (70.4%) than females (61.1%) in the third quarter of 2024. Compared to the same period last year, the participation rate decreased by 0.5 percentage point for both males and females. The gap in labour force participation rates between males and females widened slightly when compared to the third quarter of 2023 from 9.2 percentage points to 9.3 percentage points.

Education level and immigrant status

Employment rates by education level and immigrant status (core-aged population), Ontario, Q3 2024 ^{footnote 9[9]}

In the third quarter of 2024, core-aged individuals with less than high school education ^{footnote 10[10]} continued to have the lowest employment rate (57.0%), while those with a university degree recorded the highest employment rate (86.8%), followed by those with a postsecondary certificate or diploma (85.3%).

Year-over-year, the employment rate for core-aged people decreased across all four education levels.

Core-aged persons born in Canada had the highest employment rate (85.6%), while very recent immigrants had the lowest employment rate (75.9%).

Year-over-year, the employment rate increased for the core-aged population born in Canada and recent immigrants, while it declined for established immigrants and very recent immigrants.

Unemployment rates by education level and immigrant status (core-aged population), Ontario, Q3 2024 ^{footnote 11[11]}

In the third quarter of 2024, the core-aged population with a university degree and those with a postsecondary certificate or diploma had the lowest unemployment rates (5.4% and 5.3%, respectively). Those with a high school diploma (8.2%) and less than high school education (11.8%) had higher unemployment rates. Year-over-year, the unemployment rate of core-aged people increased across most education levels.

In the third quarter of 2024, the core-aged population born in Canada had the lowest unemployment rate (4.7%), while very recent immigrants had the highest unemployment rate (10.3%). Year-over-year, the unemployment rate increased for all groups by immigrant status.

Participation rates by education level and immigrant status (core-aged population), Ontario, Q3 2024 ^{footnote 12[12]}

In the third quarter of 2024, among the core-aged population, those with a university degree continued to have the highest participation rate (91.7%), while those with less than high school education had the lowest participation rate (64.6%). Year-over-year, the participation rate increased among core-aged persons with less than high school education and those with a postsecondary certificate or diploma but decreased for those with a university degree and those with a high school diploma.

In the third quarter of 2024, core-aged very recent immigrants had the lowest participation rate (84.6%) compared to recent immigrants, established immigrants and those born in Canada. Year-over-year, the participation rate increased for all groups by immigrant status.

Wages

Average hourly wages by employment status, Ontario, 1997-2023

Over the last two and a half decades, the average hourly wage increased in real terms ^{footnote 13[13]} (i.e., after accounting for inflation) from $28.88 in 1997 to $34.63 in 2023, with the growth rate averaging 0.7% per year. Over this period, part-time workers and full-time workers experienced similar annual growth in real wages (+0.7%).

Average hourly wage growth by type of work, Ontario, Q3 2024 over Q3 2023 ^{footnote 14[14]}

In the third quarter of 2024, the average hourly wage of Ontario employees was $36.62, an increase of 5.5% from the third quarter of 2023. ^{footnote 15[15]}

Full-time employees (+5.5%), part-time employees (+6.7%), permanent employees (+5.2%), temporary employees (+5.4%), employees with union coverage (+6.4%) and those without union coverage (+5.2%) experienced increases in average hourly wages.

Consumer Price Index inflation over the third quarter of 2024 compared to the third quarter of 2023 was 2.3%.

Average hourly wage rate and wage growth by occupational group, Ontario, Q3 2024 ^{footnote 16[16]}

Year-over-year, most broad occupational groups experienced growth in average hourly wages, led by management occupations (+9.2%), sales and service occupations (+7.9%); and occupations in health (+5.4%). Occupations in natural resources, agriculture and related production was the only occupational group to record a decline in average hourly wages (-2.3%).

Appendix I

Overview of annual employment, ten-year review, Ontario

Employment by region (000)

Unemployment rate by region (%)

Total employment by CMA (000)

Greater Toronto Area

Central Ontario

Eastern Ontario

Southwestern Ontario

Northern Ontario

Overview of quarterly employment year-over-year, Ontario

Employment by Region (000)

Unemployment Rate by Region (%)

Total Employment by CMA (000)

Greater Toronto Area

Central Ontario

Eastern Ontario

Southwestern Ontario

Northern Ontario

Overview of monthly* labour force characteristics, Ontario

* Seasonally adjusted.