Labour Force Survey, May 2025
released June 6, 2025
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 in May totaled 91,600, an increase of 100 from one year ago and down 2,700 from last month. Employment in May on PEI was down across all age groups, as compared to April. The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was 8.2 percent, up 0.9 percentage points as compared to May 2024 and up 1.6 percentage points from last month. The total labour force totaled 99,800 in May. This is up 1,100 (1.1 percent) compared to May 2024 and down 1,200 (-1.2 percent) compared to April 2025. The participation rate was 65.1 percent in May, down 0.8 percentage points from April.
The year-over-year increase in employment was due to a decrease of 200 (-0.3 percent) in full-time employment, while part-time employment increased by 300 (0.3 percent). Full-time employment totaled 79,100 in May, while part-time employment was 12,500. The services sector saw a decrease of 1,500 as compared to May 2024, while employment in the goods-producing sector rose by 1,600 over the same period (see table below for year-over-year employment gains and losses by industry), to total 67,400 and 24,200 respectively.
Employment gains (+)/ losses (-) between May 2024 and May 2025 occurred in the following sectors on Prince Edward Island1:
The number of unemployed people in May on Prince Edward Island was 8,200, up 1,500 from one month ago and up 1,000 as compared to May 2024. Long-term unemployment—the number of people who had been continuously unemployed for 27 weeks or more—was 1,700 in May, up from 1,100 in April. Expressed as a proportion of the total labour force, long-term unemployment was 1.7 percent in May, up from 1.1 percent in April.
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 1.9 percent in Mary, the lowest rate since July 2021. 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 May, PEI’s employment rate was 59.7 percent, down 1.1 percentage points from May 2024. This indicates that growth in population year-over-year has outpaced employment growth over this period. The employment rate was at an all-time high of 63.0 percent in September and October of 2023.
The three-month moving average unemployment rate used by the Employment Insurance program for the Charlottetown region was 7.1 percent in May, no change from April. The minimum draw period remains at 17 weeks and the hours needed to qualify remains at 630 hours for this region. The rate in the PEI region in May was 11.1 percent, up from 10.5 percent in April. The minimum draw period increases from 21 to 23 weeks and the hours needed to qualify decreases from 525 to 490 hours for this region. For more information, please refer to Employment Insurance (EI) - Canada.ca.
NATIONAL
Nationally, employment was little changed in May 2025 as compared to April. The unemployment rate rose 0.1 percentage points to 7.0 percent, the third consecutive monthly increase and the highest rate since September 2016 (excluding the COVID-19 pandemic period). The national employment rate remained at 60.8 per cent in May.
At the industry level, employment in the goods-producing sector decreased by 13,000 (-0.3 percent) as compared to last month, while employment in the services-producing sector increased by 21,800 (0.1 percent). Provincially, seasonally adjusted employment in May fell in Quebec (-0.4 percent), Manitoba (-0.8%), and Prince Edward Island (-2.9%), while it increased in British Columbia (0.4 percent), Nova Scotia (2.1%), and New Brunswick (1.9%). There was little change in other provinces.
National average hourly wages for employees rose 3.4 percent ($1.20) on a year-over-year basis in May. By province, year-over-year wage growth was highest in May in Manitoba (5.5 percent; $1.67), Ontario (5.0 percent; $1.79) and Nova Scotia (4.0 percent; $1.23). Alberta saw the lowest year-over-year increase in the average hourly wage at 0.5 percent ($0.18). PEI’s average hourly wage increased 1.1 percent ($0.32) and remains the lowest among provinces at $29.34 in May.
Unadjusted for seasonality, the national three-month moving average unemployment rate in May was 7.1 percent. The rate for population groups designated as visible minorities was 9.1 percent. Visible minority groups for which the rate was higher than the average were West Asian Canadians at 12.8 percent, Arab Canadians at 12.4 per cent, Black Canadians at 12.1 percent.
Canada Employment
1 Components may not sum to total due to rounding
Notes:
1. The LFS estimates for May are for the week of May 11 to 17, 2025.
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 July 11, 2025.
Source: Statistics Canada, Labour Force Survey Estimates, released June 6, 2025.
For more information and links to data tables, refer to the Statistics Canada Labour Force Survey release for May 2025.
Related downloads for this release:
Monthly Labour Force Survey report - PDF (100KB)