Employment didn't change much in November across Canada, except for women aged 25 to 54. That demographic reached a new record.
The Labour Market Survey for November showed employment for working-age women reached 81.6 per cent.
Seven out of ten First Nations women living off reserve were working, the highest rate since Statistics Canada started charting that. Meanwhile, 83.5 per cent of Metis women did, and 69.7 per cent of those who recently immigrated to Canada worked.
Filipino women had the highest employment rate of racialized women at 84.5 per cent.
Overall, the national economy added just 10,000 new positions last month, just enough to lower the unemployment rate by one-tenth of a percentage point to 5.1 per cent.
The national labour participation rate fell slightly in November to 64.8 per cent but was 85.1 for women aged 25 to 54.
Ontario's unemployment rate slipped 0.4 percentage points to 5.5 per cent, but in Windsor, the rate rose to 8.6 per cent, up one-tenth of a percentage point.
Another 6,500 Windsor residents started jobs, and the local economy lost 700 jobs. More people joined the job market too. Windsor's Labour Participation rate rose to 62 per cent, up from October's 59.8 per cent.
With the triple threat of COVID-19, influenza, and RSV, more workers took time off work in November because of illness or disability. The report said 6.8 per cent of workers were absent, above the average of 5.8 per cent for November but nowhere near the record set in January 2022 at 10 per cent.
The average hourly wage continued to rise in Canada, climbing 5.6 per cent, or $1.71 to $32.11.
Statistics Canada will release the results of its December Labour Market Survey on January 6, 2023.
