Statistics Canada set to release February jobs report this morning

By Canadian Press on March 7, 2025.

OTTAWA — Statistics Canada is expected to release unemployment figures for February today.

Economists polled by Reuters expect a gain of 20,000 jobs in the month, and for the unemployment rate to have ticked higher to 6.7 per cent.

RBC Economics expects the unemployment rate held steady at 6.6 per cent in February and calls for a gain of 15,000 jobs.

Canadian employers have largely kept up the pace of hiring in recent months, bringing the unemployment rate down from a recent high of 6.9 per cent in November.

The labour force survey will offer a glimpse of how Canadian businesses were reacting to threats of a trade war with the United States before tariffs came into effect earlier this week.

The February jobs figures are also the last major data release the Bank of Canada will get before its interest rate decision on March 12.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 7, 2025.

Craig Lord, The Canadian Press