A September snapshot of the Canada labour force shows that immigrant job rates continue to go up and that Canada’s unemployment is comparable to the U.S.
As September saw more people regain employment at an accelerated pace, the number of immigrants working in the Canadian labour force climbed.
According to the latest Statistics Canada Labour Force Survey, employment rose 2.1 per cent in September, accelerating compared to the 1.4 per cent jump in August. During the week of 13 to 19 September, the data in this study was obtained from the labour market. Canada’s employment rate is now within 3.7 percent of its pre-coronavirus levels, or 720,000 workers. Accommodation and food services and retail trade industries remain the furthest from complete recovery, behind other sectors.
Immigrant employment rates hover near pre-COVID peaks.
There was no change in the job rate of very recent immigrants who came to Canada less than five years ago, at 63.6 percent.
The comparatively low movement is partially due to the smaller number of new immigrants arriving after the limitations on travel were enforced.
There was a 1.7 percent rise in jobs for immigrants who arrived in Canada more than five years ago, up to 57.8 percent in September. A rise of 0.5 percentage points to 60 per cent was seen by Canadian-born employees.
Statistics Canada wrote in the study, ‘Immigrants who arrived in Canada more than five years ago are more likely than very recent immigrants to be working in sectors where employment was relatively less affected by COVID-19,’ listing common sectors where immigrants are employed, including health care and social assistance; public administration; as well as banking, insurance, real estate.
An earlier Statistics Canada study found that, due to their over-representation in low-wage jobs, these new immigrants were more likely to lose work in March and April. Usually, they were also younger workers, and thus more vulnerable to layoffs.
The U.S. and Canada have similar levels of unemployment.
In September, both countries saw an unemployment rate of 7.9 percent when they adapted Canada’s unemployment rate to U.S. concepts.
Canada’s unemployment rate in September was already 3.3 percentage points above pre-COVID peaks.
4.4 per cent higher was the U.S. unemployment rate.
In September, Canada had a greater job rate than the U.S.
As a proportion of the working-age population, the job rate looks at the number of employed individuals.
The Canadian work rate was 2.7 percentage points lower than February levels at 59.7 percent, while the U.S. was at 56.6 percent, which is 2 percentage points lower than February.
Tags : Canada PR, Canada labour survey, Immigration