Canada’s economy on recovery with more immigrants employed in month of September

The number of employed immigrants in the Canadian labor force climbed as more people returned to work at an accelerating pace in September.

Employment rose 2.1% in September, accelerating from a 1.4% gain in August, according to Statistics Canada’s latest labor force survey. The data for this report was collected from the labor market during the week of September 13-19. Canada’s employment rate is now less than 3.7%, or 720,000 jobs, of its pre-coronavirus levels. The accommodation and food services and retail trade industries remain the furthest removed from other sectors of the full recovery.

Immigrant employment rate hovers around pre-COVID levels

The employment rate of very recent immigrants who moved to Canada less than five years ago was little changed at 63.6%.

This relatively small movement is in part attributable to the lower number of new immigrants arriving since the travel restrictions took effect.

Immigrants who arrived in Canada more than five years ago saw their employment increase 1.7 percent, to 57.8 percent in September. Canadian-born workers saw an increase of 0.5 percentage point to 60 percent.

Statistics Canada wrote in the report that lists common sectors in which immigrants are employed that includes social assistance and health care; as well as insurance, real estate, leasing, and rental; public administration, – “Immigrants who arrived in Canada more than five years ago are more likely than very recent immigrants to be employed in industries where employment has been relatively less affected by COVID-19”.

An earlier report from Statistics Canada found that these recent immigrants were more likely to lose their jobs in March and April due to their overrepresentation in low-wage jobs. They were also generally newer employees, and therefore more likely to be made redundant.

The United States and Canada have similar unemployment rates

Adjusting Canada’s unemployment rate to American concepts, the two countries recorded an unemployment rate of 7.9% in September.

The unemployment rate in Canada in September was still 3.3 percentage points higher than pre-COVID levels. The unemployment rate in the United States was 4.4% higher. Canada recorded a higher employment rate than the United States in September.

The employment rate takes into account the number of employed persons as a percentage of the working-age population. At 59.7%, the employment rate in Canada was 2.7 percentage points lower than in February, while in the United States, 56.6%, 2 percentage points lower than in February.

Reference is taken from CIC News