June’s Labour Force Report Highlights the Missing Disability Data in Canada’s Employment Story

Canada’s labour market showed impressive strength in June 2025, adding 83,000 new jobs, the biggest monthly gain since January. The surge was driven largely by part-time positions and growth among core-aged workers, according to Statistics Canada. On the surface, it’s a promising sign of economic momentum. But dig a little deeper, and a critical question emerges: Are people with disabilities seeing the same gains?

Growth Without a Clear Picture

The headline numbers are encouraging, but they don’t tell the whole story. The monthly Labour Force Survey doesn’t break down employment data by disability status, leaving a major gap in our understanding of who’s truly benefiting from job growth.

The most recent data we do have, from the 2022 Canadian Survey on Disability, reveals a stark reality: just 60.6% of working-age adults with disabilities were employed, compared to 76.5% of those without disabilities. That’s a 16-point gap. And without monthly updates, we’re flying blind when it comes to tracking progress.

Why Data Matters

Canada’s labour reports regularly include breakdowns by age, gender, region, education, immigration status, and Indigenous identity. But disability? Still missing.

As the Canadian Council on Rehabilitation and Work (CCRW) put it in their 2024 Trends Report: “What gets measured gets managed.”

Without consistent, disaggregated data, policymakers and employers are left to guess whether their inclusion efforts are working, or if they’re working at all.

Where the Jobs Are and Aren’t

June’s job growth was concentrated in a few key sectors:

• Wholesale & Retail Trade: +34,000 jobs
• Health Care & Social Assistance: +17,000 jobs
• Construction: +10,000 jobs (estimated)

But here’s the catch: people with disabilities are underrepresented in some of these sectors and overrepresented in others, often in roles that are part-time, low-wage, or precarious.

According to the 2022 CSD:

• Retail trade: employs 11.3% of workers with disabilities
• Health care and social assistance: most common sector (14.6%), but often lacks adequate accommodations
• Construction: just 3.4%, highlighting ongoing inaccessibility

So while jobs are being added, they’re not necessarily in places where people with disabilities can access or thrive in them.

The Part-Time Puzzle

One of the most notable trends in June’s report was the rise in part-time work. For many Canadians with disabilities, part-time roles are the norm, but not always by choice.

Both the 2022 CSD and CCRW’s research show that people with disabilities are more likely to work part-time, often due to barriers in the workplace or a lack of accommodations. While part-time work can offer flexibility, it also tends to come with lower wages, fewer benefits, and limited opportunities for advancement.

If we’re serious about inclusion, we need to focus not just on job creation, but on creating quality, full-time employment that’s accessible to all.

Economic Uncertainty

In CBC's article on the number of jobs added, Nathan Janzen, an economist at RBC, said the growth in jobs points to a "bounce-back" in attitude among businesses, after tariff-related fears chilled hiring earlier in the spring. He also noted that Trump's most recent threat to tariff all Canadian goods at 35 per cent means that trade risks remain.

An evidence review of 47 studies examining the drivers of inclusive hiring behavior identified 32 factors that influenced hiring behavior (either positively or negatively). One of the top three most frequently identified barriers faced by employers was the perception that accommodating workers with disabilities would cost a lot of money.

In reality, CCRW's research shows that accommodations that have a direct cost average about $375. Many accommodations don't have any direct cost and just require work modifications (changes to work environment, schedule, duties, etc.).

Progress Is Happening, But It’s Not Enough

Canada has made some meaningful strides:

• The Opportunities Fund for Persons with Disabilities supports training, job placements, and employer capacity-building.
• The Accessible Employment Standard, updated in 2025, offers national guidance on inclusive hiring and workplace practices.

These are important steps. But as CCRW’s 2024 Trends Report makes clear, they haven’t yet scaled to meet the size of the employment gap, especially in the sectors driving current job growth.

Inclusion Requires Intentionality

Canada’s June jobs report is a sign of economic resilience. But it also highlights a blind spot. We can’t truly celebrate job growth without asking: Who’s being left behind?

To build an economy that works for everyone, we need:

• Regular labour market data that includes disability
• Stronger enforcement and expansion of accessibility standards
• Sector-specific strategies to make growing industries more inclusive
• A focus on full-time, quality employment, not just job counts

Because growth without inclusion isn’t progress, it’s just postponing equity.

References

• Statistics Canada. (2025, July 11). Labour Force Survey, June 2025.
• Statistics Canada. (2023). Canadian Survey on Disability, 2022.
• Canadian Council on Rehabilitation and Work (CCRW). (2024). Shaping Tomorrow: CCRW Trends Report 2024.
• CBC. (2025, July 11). Canada added 83,000 jobs in June, sending unemployment down slightly.