Unemployment rate hit record low 5.3% in March: Statistics Canada

Editor’s note: A previous version of this story incorrectly stated Canada’s unemployment rate for March. The correct figure is 5.3%. Global News regrets this error.

Canada’s unemployment rate dropped to a record low 5.3 per cent in March as provinces including Ontario and Quebec saw record employment gains in an already tight job market.

Statistics Canada says this marks the lowest unemployment rate since the agency started tracking comparable data in 1976.

The country added 73,000 jobs in March, a 0.4 per cent rise from February’s figures.

Statistics Canada also says the unemployment rate would have been 7.2 per cent had it included in calculations people who wanted a job but did not look for one.

That’s the first time that rate has fallen to its pre-pandemic level.

Driving the job gains in March were women over age 55 finding work, and men between 25 and 54 taking jobs, primarily part-time.

More to come.

— with files from Canadian Press