BRITISH COLUMBIA – While employment in the construction sector edged higher over the last year, the workforce grew, and while the unemployment rate ticked up slightly, it remained well below historical averages.
Those are some of the findings unveiled in BuildForce Canada’s recent Construction Sector Insights series released September 4, which explore labour dynamics shaping construction in Canada in 2024.
After several years of extraordinary tightness fueled by rapid economic recovery and surging project demand, the industry saw labour conditions start to somewhat normalize, the report notes.
BuildForce contends that for construction employers, project managers, and training organizations, these shifts may be a welcome sign. They point to an industry that is stabilizing after a period of intense stress, one where increased recruiting efforts are starting to pay off, and where labour supply is gradually expanding to meet persistently strong demand, particularly in the non-residential sector.
Construction employment across Canada reached 1.607 million workers in 2024, marking a modest 0.4% increase over 2023. This slight growth reflected the push and pull between a still-booming non-residential sector and a cooling residential market in some provinces.
The construction labour force also grew, rising from 1.69 million to 1.702 million. This 0.7% increase suggests that recruitment efforts are succeeding in attracting new talent, a critical development for an industry facing long-term demographic pressures from an aging workforce.
As a result of the growing labour force, the construction unemployment rate edged up slightly, from 5.3% in 2023 to 5.6% in 2024.
“However, it is important to understand this slight increase is not a signal of weakening demand,” the report states. “In fact, it reflects a healthier, more sustainable balance between supply and demand for workers. Moreover, construction unemployment remains well below the 8.1% average recorded in the five years preceding the COVID-19 pandemic.”
While Canada’s overall construction employment picture was stable, provincial stories diverged significantly. British Columbia, Quebec, Alberta, and Newfoundland and Labrador posted gains of between 1% and 4%.
In BC, construction employment grew rapidly in many regions, driven by major infrastructure and institutional projects. The Kamloops region led the country with growth of 27.5%, buoyed by work major healthcare facilities. Abbotsford-Mission also posted gains of over 20%, with Chilliwack (+14.5%) and Vancouver (+6.3%) also seeing increases.
However, not all areas shared in the boom: Nanaimo saw employment contract by 16.7%, and Kelowna experienced a decline of 39.6%, reflecting the unevenness of project activity across the province.
Across Canada, the average construction unemployment rate of 5.6% in 2024 remains remarkably low compared to historical norms.
The slight increase in Canada’s construction unemployment rates – from 5.3% to 5.6% – was mirrored by several key provinces, including Ontario, Manitoba, Alberta, Saskatchewan, and BC.
Every province recorded unemployment rates well below their pre-pandemic five-year averages, highlighting that construction labour markets, even with slight easing, remain exceptionally strong.
The slight rise in construction unemployment rates, in a context of recent lows, offers much-needed breathing room for project delivery and workforce development. Project schedules, which have been strained in recent years, could see some improvements.
“But make no mistake, on the back of the strength of the country’s non-residential sector, construction labour markets remain tight by any historical standards,” the report states.
The construction labour market in 2024 was not cooling – it was normalizing. A slightly larger labour pool, combined with strong ongoing investment in infrastructure and non-residential projects, offered the industry a chance to regroup.
For employers, it means potentially better recruitment potential, but competition for skilled trades remains intense. It also means that training and upskilling programs remain vital to meeting evolving project demands, and just as important that regional workforce planning is critical, as growth and slack are highly localized.
Meanwhile, for policymakers and industry organizations, 2024 confirmed the need to keep investing in workforce development, even as migration patterns shift and domestic training efforts accelerate.
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