Canada’s Job Market – Where are the Jobs?

Unemployment in Canada ticked up by 0.2% in June to 6.4%, yet the economy lost 1,400 jobs. Around 1.4 million Canadians were looking for work as of June 2024, a 42,000 person increase from May. Overall employment has fallen in eight of the past nine months to 61.1% in June. So where are all the jobs?

Canada’s population surpassed 41 million, marking an all-time high. Canada’s population has surpassed 41 million, but it is not due to new births. Statistics Canada declared that the population rose 0.6% or 242,673 people since last quarter, standing at 41,012.563 as of April 2024. The nation rose by 1.27 from 2022 to 2023 or a 3.2%. . Nearly all population growth (99.3%; 240,955 people) was solely attributed to migrants arriving in Canada.

Trudeau said that immigration was crucial for in-demand labor roles, and his “temporary immigration” laws led to more permanent residents. Jobs once secured by the youth (under 24) rose to 13.5% in June, a ten-year high. Young people are unable to enter the job market as unskilled labor positions have been filled. Statistics Canada has said that the overall workforce is up 588,500 in the past 12 months, but the economy has only added 343,400 positions, and only 165,500 of those positions are full-time.

Inflation has caused businesses to offshore or reduce their workforces. The Bank of Canada kept rates artificially low for over four years and then shocked the markets with swift raises. BoC Governor Tiff Macklem insists the labor market has simply “cooled,” but Canada is in trouble here.

The cost of living is up, and wages must follow. Wage growth accelerated 5.6% in June from 5.2% in May. There is a sector shift happening as well. Services have declined by 14,1000 jobs, with positions in transportation and warehousing and information, culture and recreation, declining. Agriculture and food services have seen recent  upticks instead.

Long-term unemployment, people without work for over 27 weeks, has risen to 6.4%. Analysts were expecting the job market to grow by 22,500 positions last month but Canada lost 1,400 positions.

There are too many people and not enough jobs or houses to accommodate everyone. The cost of living is simply too high. Many businesses are turning to migrants to fill labor shortages simply due to costs or offshoring roles to companies in nations like India. Students and young adults are unable to even participate in the workforce as those roles have been taken by foreigners who also likely receive aid from the government. A good portion of them are sending those paychecks back home and not recirculating their earnings into the Canadian economy. The entire Canadian economy needs a major overhaul, but this “cooling” in employment is quickly snowballing into an unemployment crisis.