Temporary residents, new immigrants push up Canada unemployment
Temporary residents and recent immigrants are driving up Canada’s unemployment rate, as record numbers of newcomers welcomed to the country to fill labor shortages are now struggling to find work.
The unemployment rate for temporary residents – including foreign workers, international students and asylum seekers – was 11% in June, according to Bloomberg calculations. Using comparable data, the unemployment rate for all workers was just 6.2% last month.
Immigrants who’ve landed in the last five years are also having a hard time finding a job, with their unemployment rate reaching 12.6% in June.
“The biggest single weighted contribution to the rise in the unemployment rate has been from the temporary residence category,” Derek Holt, an economist at Scotiabank, said on BNN Bloomberg Television earlier this week.
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In a recent speech, Bank of Canada Governor Tiff Macklem acknowledged that the loosening of Canada’s labor market has hit young workers and newcomers particularly hard. They’re also more likely to be renters — a group facing higher financial stress.
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Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government “has some room” to slow the growth of non-permanent residents without causing labor shortages or tightening the market, Macklem said. The government plans to cut this group of residents by 20% over three years.
The contribution of temporary residents and recent immigrants
