2024 was a good year for U.S. employment growth but it was not, by any means, a super year. With a gain of +256,000 jobs in December, the full year increase in the 12 months just passed was +2.2 million jobs.
Contrary to what may be the general impression, there has been ongoing softening in total U.S. employment growth since 2021’s +7.2 million jobs became +4.5 million in 2022, then sliding to +3.0 million in 2023, and +2.2 million in 2024. (2020’s coronavirus-damaged figure was -9.3 million jobs.)
Canada’s total jobs increase last year, after a +91,000 pick-up in December, was +413,000. It is striking to note, however, (and this is where the ‘weird’ in the headline comes in) that 2024’s full year gain was almost the same as both of 2023’s and 2022’s bumps, at +418,000 and +414,000 respectively. 2021’s pickup of +954,000 jobs was the turnaround made necessary by 2020’s pandemic-related collapse of -659,000.
The U.S. seasonally adjusted (SA) unemployment rate (U) ended 2025 at 4.1%, only slightly higher than December 2023’s 3.8%. The not seasonally adjusted U rate (NSA U) was 3.8% in the final month of 2024, again just a bit above the 3.5% in December 2023.
There are four U.S. states with populations markedly higher than the rest. One in three Americans lives in one of those four states ‒ California, Texas, Florida, and New York.
Ranked according to their U rates at the end of last year, Florida was best (3.4%), followed by Texas (4.2%), New York (4.4%), and then in trailing position, California (5.4%). The wildfires swooping down on Los Angeles are not the only indication that all is not well in the silver screen state.
California’s U rate is third worst among states and districts nationally, with only Nevada (5.7%) and the District of Columbia (5.6%) in sorrier shape.
The major U.S. cities with the lowest U rates at the close of 2024 were: Hartford (2.7%); Oklahoma City (2.8%); Minneapolis-St. Paul (2.9%); Nashville (2.9%); Miami-Ft Lauderdale (3.0%); Cleveland (3.0%); Richmond (3.0%); and Milwaukee (3.0%).
Topping the list of cities with the worst unemployment rates closing out 2024 were: Las Vegas (5.9%); Los Angeles (5.4%); Riverside (5.3%); Detroit (5.1%); Chicago (4.9%); Sacramento (4.8%); San Diego (4.6%); Houston (4.5%); Denver (4.5%); and New York (4.4%). Four of those ten are in California.
In Atlantic City, another of the nation’s major gambling centers besides Las Vegas, the unemployment rate is nearly as dreadful, at 5.8%.
The climb in the total number of jobs in the U.S., December 2024 compared with December 2023, was +1.4%. Three of the four most populous states beat that figure ‒ Texas, +1.9%, and New York and Florida tied at +1.6%. California, once again, was the downside outlier, +1.2%.
Among all states, the fastest job creators were Idaho, +3.1% year over year; Alaska, +2.8%; and South Carolina, +2.5%. In Idaho, Boise achieved +4.3% y/y jobs growth and Pocatello (of ‘born in a trunk in the Princess Theater’ fame) came in at +3.7%.
In Alaska, Anchorage was +3.5% y/y. In South Carolina, Charleston was +3.0%. In Texas, College Station (home of the A&M Aggies), was +3.0%, with San Antonio, +2.2%, ahead of Houston, +1.8%; Austin, +1.6%; and Dallas, +1.5%. Richmond, Virginia registered jobs growth of +3.4% y/y.
Canada’s official seasonally adjusted (SA) unemployment rate (U) or SA U rate in December 2024 was 6.7% to December 2023’s 5.8%. The Canadian NSA U rate results were 6.2% compared with 5.3%.
The formula for calculating Canada’s unemployment rate is not as rigorous as the methodology adopted in the U.S. concerning who is making a truly concerted effort to find work.
The Canadian to U.S. NSA U rates measured in the same way are now 5.3% versus 3.8%.
Canada’s y/y total employment growth in December 2024 was +2.0%.
Among provinces, Quebec ended last year with the lowest unemployment rate, 5.6%. But it was Alberta with the strongest record of year-over-year jobs creation, +4.0%.
The biggest story, though, was Ontario’s outsized contribution to the jobs-count increase country-wide, at almost exactly half. In turn, Toronto accounted for nearly 50% of Ontario’s uplift, placing it close to one-quarter of the total national change.
The intra-Alberta competition for employment creation saw Calgary (+48,500 jobs and +5.3% y/y) give a thumping to Edmonton (+29,600 jobs and +3.5% y/y).
In Ontario, and west of Toronto, the high-tech hub of Kitchener (+27,100 jobs; +7.9% y/y) and the auto-production and border-crossing city of Windsor (+12,000 jobs; +6.5% y/y) were the standouts.
The rise in employment in the construction industry in the U.S. in 2024, at +196,000 jobs, was not a huge departure from 2023’s +236,000 and 2021’s +240,000, although it fell more significantly below 2022’s +290,000. 2024’s year-over-year change was +2.4%.
The rise in employment in Canada’s construction sector in 2024 was a barely-there +23,000 jobs, although at least that was better than 2023’s -15,000, but it fell well short of 2022’s +119,000.
Year-over-year wage increases in the U.S., while decelerating slightly, remain above their historical norms. Across all sectors, and for supervisors as well as production workers, the hourly rate increase in December 2024 was +3.9% y/y, comparing with +4.3% in December 2023 and +4.9% in December 2022. The latest weekly rate increase was +3.6% y/y, comparing with +4.3% a year ago and +3.7% from two years prior.
The latest compensation rate increases for construction workers as a subset in the overall labor market, at +4.4% hourly and +3.9% weekly, are slightly above ‘all-jobs’ paycheck expectations.
The historical (i.e., prior to COVID-19) norms for y/y earnings, both hourly and weekly, were +2.5%, sometimes advancing to, but rarely exceeding, +3.0%.
Canadian earnings growth for all jobs has settled down to +3.8% y/y hourly and +3.3% weekly, although again, these exceed the 2000-to-early-2020 performances that were between +2.5% and +3.0%.
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