Labour Force Survey Monthly
Labour Force Survey, March 2025
released April 4, 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 March totaled 93,900, an increase of 2,200 from one year ago and up 100 from last month. The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was 7.5 percent, up 0.1 of a percentage point as compared to March 2024 and down 0.3 of a percentage point from last month. The total labour force totaled 101,500 in March. This is up 2,500 (2.5 percent) compared to March 2024 and down 200 (-0.2 percent) compared to February 2025. The participation rate was 66.4 percent in March, down 0.2 of a percentage point from February.
The year-over-year increase in employment was due to an increase of 2,600 (3.3 percent) in full-time employment, while part-time employment decreased by 300 (-2.5 percent). Full-time employment totaled 82,100 in February, while part-time employment was 11,9001. The services sector saw a decrease of 1,200 as compared to March 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 68,700 and 25,200 respectively.
Employment gains (+)/ losses (-) between March 2024 and March 2025 occurred in the following sectors on Prince Edward Island1:
The number of unemployed people in March on Prince Edward Island was 7,600, down 300 from one month ago and up 300 as compared to March 2024. Long-term unemployment—the number of people who had been continuously unemployed for 27 weeks or more—was 1,400 in March, up from 600 in February. Expressed as a proportion of the total labour force, long-term unemployment was 1.4 percent in March, up from 0.6 percent in February.
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 2.3 percent in March, the lowest rate since August 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 March, PEI’s employment rate was 61.5 percent, up 0.1 of a percentage point from March 2024. This indicates that growth in employment year-over-year has kept pace with population 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 March, up from 6.2 percent in February. The minimum draw period increases from 15 to 17 weeks and the hours needed to qualify decreases from 665 to 630 hours for this region. The rate in the PEI region in March was 11.1 percent, up from 10.3 percent in February. 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 fell 32,600 in March 2025 as compared to February and the unemployment rate rose 0.1 percentage points to 6.7 percent. The employment rate fell 0.2 percentage points to 60.9 per cent in March.
At the industry level, employment in the goods-producing sector decreased by 11,700 (-0.3 percent) as compared to last month, while employment in the services-producing sector fell by 20,900 (-0.1 percent). Provincially, seasonally adjusted employment in March fell in Ontario (-0.3 percent) and Alberta (-0.6 percent), while it increased in Saskatchewan (+1.1 percent). There was little change in other provinces.
National average hourly wages for employees rose 3.6 percent ($1.24) on a year-over-year basis in March. By province, year-over-year wage growth was highest in March in Nova Scotia (6.9 percent; $2.08), Manitoba (6.0 percent; $1.82) and Newfoundland and Labrador (5.0 percent; $1.61). PEI saw the lowest year-over-year increase in the average hourly wage at 0.1 percent ($0.03). PEI’s average hourly wage remains the lowest among provinces at $29.55 in March.
Unadjusted for seasonality, the national three-month moving average unemployment rate in March was 7.0 percent. The rate for population groups designated as visible minorities was 9.0 percent. Visible minority groups for which the rate was higher than the average were Black Canadians at 12.4 percent, Arab Canadians at 12.3 per cent, and West Asian Canadians at 10.5 percent.
Canada Employment
1 Components may not sum to total due to rounding
Notes:
1. The LFS estimates for March are for the week of March 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 May 9, 2025.
Source: Statistics Canada, Labour Force Survey Estimates, released April 4, 2025.
For more information and links to data tables, refer to the Statistics Canada Labour Force Survey release for March 2025.
Related downloads for this release:
Monthly Labour Force Survey report - PDF (100KB)