Labour Force Survey Monthly

Labour Force Survey, February 2025

released March 7, 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 February totaled 93,800, an increase of 1,800 from one year ago and down 500 from last month. The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was 7.8 percent, up 0.8 of a percentage point as compared to February 2024 and up 0.6 of a percentage point from last month. The total labour force totaled 101,700 in February. This is up 2,800 (2.8 percent) compared to February 2024 and up 100 (0.1 percent) compared to January 2025. The participation rate was 66.6 percent in February, down 0.1 of a percentage point from January.

The year-over-year increase in employment was due to an increase of 2,500 (3.2 percent) in full-time employment, while part-time employment decreased by 700 (-5.2 percent).  Full-time employment totaled 81,000 in February, while part-time employment was 12,800¹. The services sector saw a decrease of 1,600 as compared to February 2024, while employment in the goods-producing sector rose by 3,400 over the same period (see table below for year-over-year employment gains and losses by industry), to total 68,800 and 25,000 respectively.

Employment gains (+)/ losses (-) between February 2024 and February 2025 occurred in the following sectors on Prince Edward Island¹:

The number of unemployed persons in February on Prince Edward Island was 7,900, up 600 from one month ago and up 1,000 as compared to February 2024. Long-term unemployment—the number of people who had been continuously unemployed for 27 weeks or more—was 600 in February, down from 1,200 in January. Expressed as a proportion of the total labour force, long-term unemployment was 0.6 percent in February, down from 1.2 percent in January.

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 2.6 percent in February. 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 February, PEI’s employment rate was 61.4 percent, down 0.4 of a percentage point from February 2024. This indicates that growth in the population aged 15 years and over has outpaced growth in employment year-over-year. This trend may be temporary as changes to immigration policy are expected to slow the growth in immigration of the working aged population to PEI. 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 6.2 percent in February, down from 6.7 percent in January. The minimum draw period remains at 15 weeks and the hours needed to qualify remain at 665 hours for this region. The rate in the PEI region in February was 10.3 percent, up from 10.2 percent in January. The minimum draw period remains at 21 weeks and the hours needed to qualify remain at 525 hours for this region. For more information, please refer to Employment Insurance (EI) - Canada.ca.

NATIONAL

Nationally, employment was virtually unchanged in February 2025 as compared to January and the unemployment rate was also unchanged at 6.6 percent. The employment rate remained at 61.1 per cent in January.

At the industry level, employment in the goods-producing sector decreased by 19,500 (-0.5 percent) as compared to last month, while employment in the services-producing sector rose by 20,600 (0.1 percent). Provincially, seasonally adjusted employment in February fell in Nova Scotia (-0.8 percent) with little change in other provinces.

National average hourly wages for employees rose 3.8 percent ($1.32) on a year-over-year basis in February. By province, year-over-year wage growth was highest in February in Manitoba (5.9 percent; $1.76), Nova Scotia (5.1 percent; $1.55) and Newfoundland and Labrador (4.9 percent; $1.56). Alberta saw the lowest year-over-year increase in the average hourly wage at 2.6 percent ($0.94). PEI’s average hourly wage remains the lowest among provinces at $29.94 in February.  

Unadjusted for seasonality, the national three-month moving average unemployment rate in February was 6.7 percent. The rate for population groups designated as visible minorities was 8.7 percent. Visible minority groups for which the rate was higher than the average were Arab Canadians at 12.4 per cent, Black Canadians at 11.8 percent, and West Asian Canadians at 10.2 percent.
 

Canada Employment

¹ Components may not sum to total due to rounding

Notes:
1.    The LFS estimates for February are for the week of February 9 to 15, 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 April 4, 2025.

Source: Statistics Canada, Labour Force Survey Estimates, released March 7, 2025.

For more information and links to data tables, refer to the Statistics Canada Labour Force Survey release for February 2025.

Related downloads for this release:

Monthly Labour Force Survey report - PDF (100KB)