Canada moving ahead with stable employment rates

A short analysis on labour shortages despite the rising employment rates in the Canadian market

In recent years, Canada has emerged as the most attractive location for students and job seekers. This overwhelming tendency has kept Canada immigration on its toes. Nonetheless, current patterns indicate that Canada's immigration policies have been a success.

This past October, Canada added 31,000 jobs to the economy, while unemployment declined for the fifth month in a row. The most recent Labour Force Survey findings from Statistics Canada covered the week of October 10 to 16. Many jurisdictions have proof-of-vaccine measures in place that week. Capacity limitations had been lifted in Ontario, British Columbia, and Quebec, and proof-of-vaccination requirements had replaced them. Reductions in others, countered Gains in employment in certain industries. For example, since June, the retail trade business expanded for the first time, although job losses in lodging and food services reduced part of the expansion.

Unemployment declined for the sixth month in a row in October, falling to 6.7%. It was the lowest in 20 months, although it was still higher than the pre-pandemic rate of 5.7% in February 2020. While it looks that the economy is on the right track, some analysts believe that chronic labour shortages are impeding economic progress.

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According to Nathan Janzen, senior economist at RBC, the number of jobless people is less than what it would take to restore employment in lodging and food services to pre-pandemic levels. Moreover, because of the rapid expansion in industries such as professional, scientific, and technological employment, it appears that there will be insufficient individuals to fill positions in hard-hit industries.

In addition, following a period of unemployment, fewer people returned to their positions in accommodation and food services, manufacturing, and retail commerce. This implies that not all industries rebounded in the same way after the epidemic.

Labour markets haven't entirely recovered from the 2020 shock, but they're getting there, and tales of labour shortages aren't going away anytime soon." Janzen said this in a report.

According to Leah Nord, senior director of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, employment gaps will be tough to fill, and there is no "silver bullet" solution to skill shortages.

"We won't achieve sustained economic development until we establish inclusive and sustainable talent pipelines," Nord said in a press statement. "Before we can find a reason to rejoice, Canada needs a real strategy to solve its structural workforce difficulties, which were well entrenched before COVID."

After coming to a halt in 2020, the number of recent immigrants to Canada has climbed in recent months. Although Canada only accepted 184,000 newcomers last year, the country has already admitted 267,000 new permanent residents this year.

"Very recent immigrants" are people who have been in Canada for five years or less. There were more very recent immigrants in October than in 2019, and they were more likely to be working. The employment rate for this category of immigrants was 71%, approximately six percentage points higher than in October 2019.

Immigrants who have been in Canada for more than five years had a roughly 60 percent employment rate in October, a decrease of less than one percentage point from October 2019. On the dot, the Canadian-born population had a 61% employment rate.

If you are planning to move to Canada, these are some important factors you should keep in mind.