Labour Force Survey Monthly

Labour Force Survey, June 2026

released July 10, 2026

Prince Edward Island Employment

Unemployment Rate By Province (seasonally adjusted, in percentage)

Summary

Statistics Canada’s LFS shows P.E.I.’s seasonally adjusted employment increased 4,600 (5.0 percent) from one year ago to 96,600 in June 2026. This is a decrease of 100 (-0.1 percent) from last month. The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was 7.6 percent, down 0.9 percentage points from June 2025 and up 0.9 percentage points from last month. The total labour force totaled 104,400 in June, a new all-time high. This is up 3,700 compared to June 2025 and up 600 from one month ago. The participation rate was 66.9 percent in June, up 0.4 percentage points from last month.

The year-over-year increase in employment was due to an increase of 2,900 (3.6 percent) in full-time employment, while part-time employment increased by 1,600 (14.0 percent).  Full-time employment totaled 83,500 in June, while part-time employment was 13,000. 
The services sector saw an increase of 6,900 (10.1 percent) as compared to June 2025 to reach a new all-time high of 75,100. Employment in the goods-producing sector declined by 2,500 (-10.5 percent) over the same period, to total 21,400. See table below for year-over-year employment gains and losses by industry. 

Employment gains (+)/ losses (-) between June 2025 and June 2026 occurred in the following sectors on Prince Edward Island¹:

Employment in June decreased by 0.5 percent for people aged 25 and over as compared to May 2026, while employment for youth aged 15 to 24 rose 2.1 percent. Year-over-year, youth employment has dropped by 0.7 percent since June 2025, while employment for the 25 and over age group increased 6.1 percent over this period.

The number of unemployed persons in June on Prince Edward Island was 7,900, up 900 from one month ago and down 700 as compared to June 2025. Long-term unemployment—the number of people who had been continuously unemployed for 27 weeks or more—was 900 in June, up from 800 in May. Expressed as a proportion of the total labour force, long-term unemployment was 0.9 percent in June, up from 0.8 percent in May. 

PEI Unemployment Rate (Seasonally Adjusted)

According to the Labour Force Survey, year-over-year growth in PEI’s population aged 15 years and older was 1.4 percent in June. The employment rate—the proportion of the population aged 15 years and older who are employed—can help assess whether employment growth is keeping pace with population growth. In June, PEI’s employment rate was 61.9 percent, up 2.2 percentage points from June 2025. This indicates that growth in employment has outpaced growth in the population aged 15 years and over year-over-year. The employment rate was at an all-time high of 63.1 percent in September 2023.

The three-month moving average unemployment rate used by the Employment Insurance program for the Charlottetown region was 6.2 percent in June, no change from May. The minimum draw period and hours needed to qualify remain at 15 weeks and 665 hours for this region. The rate in the PEI region in June was 9.0 percent, no change from May. The minimum draw period and hours needed to qualify remain at 18 weeks and 595 hours for this region. For more information, please refer to Employment Insurance (EI) - Canada.ca.

NATIONAL

Nationally there was little change in employment, which increased by 18,000 in June 2026 as compared to last month and the unemployment rate fell 0.1 percentage points to 6.5 percent. The employment rate rose 0.1 percentage point to 60.8 percent in June.

At the industry level, employment in the goods-producing sector fell by 43,700 (-1.0 percent) as compared to last month, while employment in the services-producing sector increased by 61,800 (0.4 percent).

Provincially, seasonally adjusted employment in June increased notably in Nova Scotia (0.9 percent) and Saskatchewan (0.5 percent), with little change in other provinces.

National average hourly wages for employees rose 3.3 percent ($1.19) on a year-over-year basis in June. By province, year-over-year wage growth was highest in June in Prince Edward Island (10.0 percent; $2.87), Quebec (4.7 percent; $1.64), and Nova Scotia (3.8 percent; $1.20). PEI’s average hourly wage remains the lowest among provinces at $31.66 in June.  

Unadjusted for seasonality, the national three-month moving average unemployment rate in June was 6.7 percent. The rate for population groups designated as visible minorities was 8.4 percent. Visible minority groups for which the rate was higher than the average were Black Canadians at 11.9 percent, Arab Canadians at 10.6 per cent, and West Asian Canadians at 10.1 percent. 

Canada Employment

¹ Components may not sum to total due to rounding

Notes:
1.    The LFS estimates for June are for the week of June 14 to 20.
2.    The LFS estimates are based on a sample and are therefore subject to sampling variability. For more information, see the Statistics Canada publication "Interpreting Monthly Changes in Employment from the Labour Force Survey."
3.    The next release of the LFS will be on August 7, 2026.

Source: Statistics Canada, Labour Force Survey Estimates, released July 10, 2026.

For more information and links to data tables, refer to the Statistics Canada Labour Force Survey release for June 2026.

Related downloads for this release:

Monthly Labour Force Survey report - PDF (100KB)