Employment in Quebec fell 0.6% in June and the unemployment rate was little changed at 4.3% (0.1 percentage point), according to Statistics Canada.

This is therefore a second drop in employment in the Belle Province in three months.

The number of full-time jobs decreased by 1.1% between May and June 2022. More Quebecers, however, obtained part-time employment, increasing by 1.7% between the two months.

The main setbacks were seen in the natural resources, information, culture and recreation sectors. Conversely, significant increases were recorded in professional, scientific and technical services, but also in manufacturing.

In the census metropolitan area (CMA) of Montreal, both employment and the unemployment rate (4.7%) saw little change for the month of June.

At the country level, employment fell for the first time since the start of 2022, falling by 43,000 (-0.2%) in June, then offsetting the increase of 40,000 jobs in May.

"This is the first decline in employment not associated with a tightening of public health restrictions since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic," the federal agency said.

Canada's unemployment rate fell 0.2 percentage points to a new record low of 4.9%. According to Statistics Canada, this decline is attributable to “the decline in the number of people looking for work”.