Job vacancies little changed in April
The number of employees receiving pay and benefits from their employer edged up by 22,000 (+0.1%) in April, following little variation in March (+5,700; +0.0%). There were 490,500 job vacancies in Canada in April, marking a fourth consecutive month of little variation. Compared with a year earlier, the number of job vacancies was down by 17,500 (-3.4%) in April. This year-over-year decrease was significantly lower than the decline from April 2024 to April 2025 (-79,400; -13.5%). There were 3.2 unemployed persons for every job vacancy in April 2026, up from 3.1 in both March 2026 and April 2025.
Source: Payroll employment, earnings and hours, and job vacancies, April 2026
Gasoline prices continue to drive acceleration of Consumer Price Index
The Consumer Price Index (CPI) increased 3.2% year over year in May, up from a 2.8% gain in April. Higher prices for gasoline continued to drive the acceleration in the headline CPI in May. On a year-over-year basis, gasoline prices rose at a faster pace in May (+33.2%) compared with April (+28.6%). Higher prices for fresh fruit and fresh vegetables contributed to an acceleration in inflation for food purchased from stores, rising 4.3% year over year in May, the 16th consecutive month it has outpaced headline inflation on a year-over-year basis.
Source: Consumer Price Index, May 2026
Workforce aging in Canada
Canada's workforce is aging, raising questions about its impact on business performance. From 2001 to 2022, the proportion of firms with an average worker age above 40 years increased by more than 16 percentage points, rising from 26.2% to 42.3%. In addition, the share of workers aged 55 years and older more than doubled over the same period, increasing from 9.3% in 2001 to 18.8% in 2022. In other words, nearly one in five workers in a typical business was aged 55 years or older in 2022.
The share of assets in Canada owned by foreign-controlled enterprises decreases
In 2024, foreign- and Canadian-controlled enterprises operating in Canada combined held $18.8 trillion in assets, a 5.0% increase from 2023. Foreign-controlled assets were valued at $2.6 trillion in 2024, accounting for 13.9% of total corporate assets in the Canadian economy. From 2010 to 2024, the foreign-controlled share of assets decreased by 7.3 percentage points. United States-controlled enterprises maintained the largest overall share of foreign-controlled assets in Canada (55.9%) in 2024, followed by Japan (8.6%) and the United Kingdom (6.6%).
Motion picture and video exhibition industry yet to fully recover from the COVID-19 pandemic
In 2024, the motion picture and video exhibition industry recorded $1.6 billion in operating revenue—up 12.0% from 2022, when the COVID-19 pandemic was still affecting operations. The industry has yet to exceed the $1.9 billion in revenue recorded in 2018, which was the highest amount since the start of the data series. Theatre attendance in 2024 reached two-thirds of what it was in 2018. The average movie ticket price in 2024 was $12.57, up from $9.53 in 2020. Admission receipts made up more than half (53.8%) of industry revenue in 2024, while food and beverage sales made up 38.0%.
Source: The summer movie
Contact information
For more information, contact the Statistical Information Service (toll-free 1-800-263-1136; 514-283-8300; infostats@statcan.gc.ca) or Media Relations (statcan.mediahotline-ligneinfomedias.statcan@statcan.gc.ca).