As employment in Canada continues to be closely watched for signs of U.S.-tariff impacts, DesRosiers Automotive Consultants pulled its first quarter data to review the automotive situation — and found that overall employment was down slightly in March 2025 by 0.2% from March 2024.
“Within specific sub-sectors, employment figures were a mixed bag,” said DAC in its update. “The embattled motor vehicle parts and accessories manufacturing industry saw a 2.5% decrease for March with automotive parts and accessories stores also seeing a small decrease of 0.6%.”
However, motor vehicle manufacturing was up 1.1% compared to a very weak March 2024. At that time, the sector was 8.5% below March 2023 as a result of plant specific retooling. And new vehicle sales were strong for the first quarter, thanks in part to auto dealers experiencing a 1.4% employment increase for March 2025. The automotive repair and maintenance sector, consistently stable, was up 1.7%.
The results of the second quarter may more broadly show the impacts of the trade war, as April and May revealed “worrying results” for the Canadian economy. Overall unemployment reached 7 per cent, and the broader manufacturing category saw notable job losses, according to DAC.
“The automotive sector will likely see more job losses in the Q2 data and without a resolution to the trade war soon, at least some of the ground won back post-pandemic will once again be yielded,” said Andrew King, Managing Partner at DAC, in a statement.
