Ontario loses 16.7K jobs in June, wiping some previous gains

Ontario lost thousands of jobs in June, but can still boast positive job creation for the past three months after a particularly strong performance in early spring.

New figures released by Statistics Canada revealed Ontario lost 16,700 jobs in the past month, keeping its unemployment rate steady and above the national average.

They come after gains of more than 84,000 in April and May.

Ontario NDP MPP Catherine Fife said the latest data showed the Ford government was failing to deliver on the economy.

“Our province’s workforce is shrinking at an alarming rate. This Premier and his Conservative government are simply not creating opportunities for people,” she wrote in a statement.

“Hard-working people are struggling to put food on the table for their families, or to keep a roof over their heads. The good jobs they need are disappearing.”

The fall in jobs in Ontario means the unemployment rate in the province sits steady at seven per cent, above the national average of 6.5 per cent.

A spokesperson for the government pointed to the ongoing trade war with the United States as part of the reason for the difficult figures.

“As President (Donald) Trump’s tariffs and tariff threats continue to disrupt supply chains and pose unprecedented challenges for workers and businesses on both sides of the border, our government is taking action to build a more resilient and self-reliant economy,” they wrote in a statement.

“In 2025, we saw 750 companies invest $35 billion in our economy, and we will continue to take action to give businesses the certainty they need to invest and grow in Ontario.”

The figures from Statistics Canada confirm worrying data put out by the Financial Accountability Office (FAO) of Ontario at the beginning of June.

In that report, the FAO suggested the province had seen its workforce fall at the sharpest rate since 1976, with the exception of the COVID-19 pandemic. It tracked a labour force decline of 0.8 per cent in the first quarter of 2026.

Ontario Green Party Leader Mike Schreiner said the province had made the wrong choices when it came to public funding for the economy.

“The Ford government could create jobs now by investing made-in-Ontario renewable energy, by creating a real EV strategy that will bring manufacturing jobs back to the province and by legalizing gentle density to build more homes now,” he wrote in a statement.

“The Ford government needs to stop putting corporate giveaways ahead of the people of Ontario and start taking real action to create jobs and make life easier and more affordable for everyday people.”