According to the report from Statistics Canada, the unemployment rate fell 1.2 percentage points to 8.2% in February, the lowest rate since March 2020. Economists had expected a drop to 9.2%.

The number of long-term unemployed—people who had been looking for work or been on temporary layoff for 27 weeks or more—fell by 49,000 (-9.7%) from a record high of 512,000 in January. The labour underutilization rate fell 1.8 percentage points to 16.6%—the lowest level since February 2020.

Employment increased by 259,000 (+1.4%) in February, after falling by 266,000 over the previous two months. Economists had expected a 75,000 increase. 

Both part-time (+171,000; +5.4%) and full-time (+88,000; +0.6%) work increased. Among those working part time (less than 30 hours per week) in February, almost one-quarter (23.8%) wanted a full-time job, up from less than one-fifth (18.5%) 12 months earlier.

The number of self-employed workers was unchanged for the second consecutive month and was down 7.4% (-213,000) compared with 12 months earlier. Gains included an increase of 226,000 (+1.9%) among private-sector employees.

Compared with 12 months earlier, there were 599,000 (-3.1%) fewer people employed, and 406,000 (+50.0%) more people working less than half of their usual hours.

In February, total hours worked increased by 1.4%, driven mostly by gains in wholesale and retail trade.