Name: Labour force characteristics by Montréal, Toronto and Vancouver census metropolitan areas, monthly, seasonally adjusted
Creator: Statistics Canada
License: https://open.canada.ca/en/open-government-licence-canada

Labour force characteristics by Montréal, Toronto and Vancouver census metropolitan areas, monthly, seasonally adjusted — AI AnalysisThis Statistics Canada dataset (Table 14100460) tracks monthly seasonally adjusted labour force characteristics across Montréal, Toronto, and Vancouver from January 2011 to February 2026, spanning 96 unique time series and 182 monthly periods. All three cities experienced sustained employment growthKey Findings

Vancouver recorded the strongest employment growth of the three cities, rising 37.6% from approximately 1,221K to 1,681K workers between 2011 and 2026, while also achieving the lowest unemployment rate of the three cities at 5.8% by 2026.

Toronto added the most workers in absolute terms — over 849K — growing its labour force by 26.2%, though its unemployment rate edged slightly upward from 8.3% to 8.5% over the same period.

Montréal's unemployment rate improved by 11.1% (from 8.1% to 7.2%), while its unemployment count barely changed (+3%), suggesting its labour force efficiently absorbed new entrants without a significant rise in joblessness.

The COVID-19 pandemic (spring 2020) represents the single largest structural break in the dataset, with Montréal's unemployment rate spiking to 18.7% in April 2020 — the highest value recorded across all three cities and the entire 15-year period.

Despite the severity of the COVID-19 shock, no data points were flagged as extreme outliers under the strict 3×IQR statistical rule, indicating the disruption was broad enough to shift the entire distribution rather than appear as an isolated anomaly.

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