Ontario lost 16,700 jobs in June, erasing gains from spring hiring
The province's unemployment rate held steady at 7 per cent — above the national average of 6.5 per cent — despite strong job growth in April and May.
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Ontario lost 16,700 jobs in June, a setback that erased some of the gains from earlier in the year but was not unexpected given volatile labour markets nationwide.
The loss kept the province's unemployment rate steady at 7 per cent — higher than Canada's 6.5 per cent — according to Statistics Canada data released Friday, July 10. The losses came after strong April and May, when Ontario added more than 84,000 jobs.
The decline triggered criticism from opposition parties. "Our province's workforce is shrinking at an alarming rate," Ontario NDP MPP Catherine Fife said in a statement. "This Premier and his Conservative government are simply not creating opportunities for people."
The Ontario government attributed the setback to the trade war with the United States. "As President Trump's tariffs and tariff threats continue to disrupt supply chains and pose unprecedented challenges for workers and businesses on both sides of the border, our government is taking action," a provincial spokesperson said, noting that 750 companies invested $35 billion in Ontario in 2025.
The figures align with a worrying June report from Ontario's Financial Accountability Office, which found the province's workforce declined at the sharpest rate since 1976 — outside the COVID-19 pandemic — with a labour force drop of 0.8 per cent in the first quarter of 2026.
