Skip page header and navigation

Canada sees decline in temp employees even as total jobs rise

Canada sees decline in temp employees even as total jobs rise

Craig Johnson
| December 16, 2024
Strike of workers in heavy industry. Metallurgical industry.

Main article

Canada lost 84,000 temporary employees year over year in November even as the total number of employees rose during that time, according to a report from Statistics Canada released Dec. 6. The data was not adjusted for seasonality.

Temporary employee numbers were down 4.3% on a percentage basis. In comparison, the total number of employees overall — those ages 15 and up — rose by 1.8%.

Canada had approximately 1.87 million temp jobs in November.

Statistics Canada’s definition of a temporary job is: “A temporary job has a predetermined end date or will end as soon as a specified project is completed. Includes seasonal jobs; temporary, term or contract jobs including work done through a temporary help agency; casual jobs; and other temporary work.”

The total number of employees ages 15 and older was 17.95 million in November. It was an increase of 322,700 from November 2023.

The occupations with the largest increase in employees were in “education, law and social, community and government services, except management” where the number of employees rose by 137,600 year over year in November. The increase was 6.3% on a percentage basis.

The data is online and the report being cited is Table 14-10-0320-02  Average usual hours and wages by selected characteristics, monthly, unadjusted for seasonality (x 1,000).