Nikola Misina
April 16, 2025

Low Wage LMIA Census Metropolitan Area Unemployment Rates update

The new update was announced on April 4^th.

As previously announced, since September 26, 2024, certain LMIA applications will not be processed. This applies to applications that meet the following criteria:

– The wage offered is below the provincial or territorial wage threshold, and

– The job is located in a CMA where the unemployment rate is 6% or higher at the time the LMIA is submitted.

How to verify if a job location is in a CMA with an unemployment rate of 6% or higher

Before submitting an LMIA application, it is essential to check if any low-wage positions are situated in CMAs by following these steps. If any positions are found in a CMA, you must then verify the CMA’s unemployment rate using the provided table. If any job locations are within a CMA that has an unemployment rate of 6% or higher, your application will not be processed.

Input the full postal code of the job location in the Census of Population.

On the Geography search results page, look for the “Census metropolitan area / Census agglomeration” geographic level. If this level does not appear in the search results, your application will still be eligible for processing.

If the result indicates:

– Census agglomeration: Your LMIA application will remain eligible for processing.

– Census metropolitan area: Check the unemployment rate of the CMA using the table below. If the unemployment rate is 6% or higher, the application will not be processed.

Certain CMAs are not included in the unemployment rate table provided below. If a CMA is absent from the list, the LMIA application remains eligible for processing.

Revisions as of April 4, 2025:

The following CMAs have been included:

– Fredericton, New Brunswick

– Drummondville, Quebec

– Red Deer, Alberta

– Kamloops, British Columbia

– Chilliwack, British Columbia

– Nanaimo, British Columbia

Additionally, the CMA designation for Belleville has been updated to Belleville – Quinte West.

The unemployment rate table is refreshed every three months, with the next update scheduled for July 11, 2025.

Table: Unemployment rates by CMA and period
Census metropolitan area	Unemployment rate (%) for applications submitted from October 11, 2024, to January 9, 2025	Unemployment rate (%) for applications submitted from January 10 to April 3, 2025	Unemployment rate (%) for applications submitted from April 4 to July 10, 2025
St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador	6.6	6.0	7.6
Halifax, Nova Scotia	5.7	4.6	4.8
Moncton, New Brunswick	5.2	5.4	5.4
Saint John, New Brunswick	5.7	6.1	7.7
Fredericton, New Brunswick	N/A^*	N/A^*	6.9
Saguenay, Quebec	3.4	3.2	4.1
Québec, Quebec	4.2	4.1	5.1
Sherbrooke, Quebec	5.6	4.1	5.2
Trois-Rivières, Quebec	6.7	5.2	5.6
Drummondville, Quebec	N/A^*	N/A^*	8.0
Montréal, Quebec	6.8	6.2	6.7
Ottawa-Gatineau, Ontario/Quebec	6.9	5.4	5.3
Kingston, Ontario	6.9	5.7	7.2
Belleville – Quinte West, Ontario	3.6	N/A^*	5.6
Peterborough, Ontario	5.2	4.5	9.9
Oshawa, Ontario	8.5	7.5	8.0
Toronto, Ontario	8.6	7.9	8.6
Hamilton, Ontario	6.7	6.3	7.3
St. Catharines-Niagara, Ontario	6.9	6.2	7.7
Kitchener-Cambridge-Waterloo, Ontario	8.0	7.3	8.5
Brantford, Ontario	6.4	4.2	7.2
Guelph, Ontario	5.9	6.2	6.2
London, Ontario	7.4	6.4	5.5
Windsor, Ontario	9.7	8.8	9.3
Barrie, Ontario	5.7	6.0	7.5
Greater Sudbury, Ontario	5.6	4.7	5.8
Thunder Bay, Ontario	4.4	4.9	4.8
Winnipeg, Manitoba	6.6	5.6	5.9
Regina, Saskatchewan	6.7	6.1	5.9
Saskatoon, Saskatchewan	5.6	4.3	4.8
Lethbridge, Alberta	5.2	4.9	5.7
Calgary, Alberta	7.5	7.5	7.8
Red Deer, Alberta	N/A^*	N/A^*	8.4
Edmonton, Alberta	8.7	6.8	7.3
Kelowna, British Columbia	4.9	5.3	6.7
Kamloops, British Columbia	N/A^*	N/A^*	7.1
Chilliwack, British Columbia	N/A^*	N/A^*	5.9
Abbotsford-Mission, British Columbia	6.5	5.4	6.2
Vancouver, British Columbia	6.5	5.9	6.6
Victoria, British Columbia	3.9	3.1	3.4
Nanaimo, British Columbia	N/A^*	N/A^*	6.0

CALGARY-VICTORIA-BELGRADE-KERALA

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