Canada’s jobs picture surprised on the upside again in November, with the unemployment rate falling 0.4 percentage points to 6.5%, the lowest since July 2024.

The report was “significantly firmer than expected,” said RBC Assistant Chief Economist Nathen Janzen.

Statistics Canada said the economy added 54,000 jobs last month compared with expectations for a small drop in employment.

A solid gain in part-time jobs boosted the number of people employed for the third time in a row, ‌data showed on Friday.

Statistics Canada says job gains were concentrated in part-time work and youth aged 15 to 24—a demographic that has struggled through a tough labour market so far this year.

The health-care and social assistance sector led gains with 46,000 new positions while the wholesale and retail trade industry shed 34,000 jobs.

From September through November, the economy added 181,000 jobs in a rebound from a relatively slow employment start in early 2025 because of the impact of U.S. tariffs on the labour market.

“[It’s] the largest one-month decline since February 2022 when labour markets were being impacted by the timing of pandemic lockdowns,” Janzen said in a note to clients, referring to the drop in the jobless rate. “The monthly labour market data is still notoriously volatile, but the drop in the November unemployment rate is also broadly consistent with job openings data (indeed.com) showing hiring demand in Canada has begun to recover.”

He said the Bank of Canada was probably not planning to cut interest rates next week and this data “likely cements that decision, and also is consistent with our base-case that the BoC will not need to reduce interest rates again through next year.”