Canada adds 246k more jobs, unemployment down again – Jobs Report

Canada’s economy added 418,500 new jobs in July, the third consecutive month of job gains as the Canadian economy recovers from the initial shock of the coronavirus pandemic.

The national unemployment rate — now at 10.9%, down from 12.3% last month — is also moving in the right direction.

These promising economic signs are in large part thanks to Canada’s success in slowing the spread of the virus in combination with substantial public spending to stimulate economic activity. The responsible actions of individuals, communities, workers, and employers, who continue to maintain physical distancing requirements and restrictions on large gatherings, has also contributed to the economic upswing, allowing more people to return to work.

It should be noted, however, that most employment gains in July were in part-time work, which increased by 345,000 (+11.3%), compared with a much smaller increase of 73,000 (+0.5%) in full-time work. Moreover, July’s job gain, when added to the 953,000 in June and the 290,000 from May, still leaves Canada with 1.3 million fewer jobs than it had in February, before widespread lockdowns to limit the spread of the virus began.

Canada still has a way to go.

Why so many part-time jobs in July?

StatsCan, the government agency that puts together these figures, notes that the COVID-19 labour market shock was felt particularly hard in part-time work. From February to April, losses in part-time work (-29.6%) were significantly heavier than in full-time employment (-12.5%). This was due to a number of factors, including part-time work being more prevalent in industries that were most affected by the economic shutdown, such as retail trade, accommodation, and food services. Despite large gains in July, however, employment remains well below pre-COVID-19 levels in accommodation and food services.

Part-time work is now showing something closer to a V-shaped recovery than full-time work, which is taking longer to recover. Growth in part-time work has outpaced full-time growth in each of the past three months. With July’s gains, part-time work is now closer to its pre-COVID level (-5.0%) than full-time employment (-7.5%).

The slower growth in full-time work is reflected in an increase in the proportion of part-time workers who would rather be putting in full-time hours. In July 2019, 22.2% of those working less than 30 hours per week would have preferred full-time work. One year later, this proportion had increased to 29.7%, indicating that the economic shutdown and subsequent reopening has resulted in a reduction, at least temporarily, in the number of hours being offered by employers.

Employment increased strongly in the services-producing sector (+348,000; +2.5%), driven by gains in wholesale and retail trade and in accommodation and food services. The services-producing sector has now reached 93.0% of its pre-COVID February level, essentially the same level of recovery as in the goods-producing sector (93.1%).

Newcomers enjoy upward trend in employment

The employment rate among very recent immigrants (those who arrived within the past five years) rose for a third consecutive month in July, up 2.1 percentage points to 60.5%. The month-over-month increase in this group’s employment rate was greater than the increases observed among landed immigrants of more than five years (+0.8 percentage points to 54.5%), and those born in Canada. Employment among recent immigrants is actually slightly higher than people born in Canada, who now show an employment rate of 59.1%.

The employment rate is defined as the number of employed persons expressed as a percentage of the population 15 years of age and over, whereas the unemployment rate is defined as unemployed persons expressed as a percentage of the labour force. Therefore, the unemployment rate and employment rate together don’t necessarily add up to 100.

Employment increases in most provinces

In Ontario, Canada’s most popular destination province for newcomers, employment rose by 151,000 (+2.2%) in July, building on an increase of 378,000 in June and bringing employment to 91.7% of its pre-pandemic level. The initial easing of COVID-19 restrictions occurred later in Ontario than in most other provinces. Indeed, restrictions have been eased more slowly in certain parts of Ontario, including Toronto, than in other parts. The unemployment rate in Ontario now stands at 11.3%, slightly above the national average but with scope for further decreases if further reopening goes according to plan.

Employment in Quebec increased by 98,000 (+2.4%) in July, led by increases in part-time work. This added to gains in the previous two months and brings employment in Quebec to 94.4% of its pre-COVID level. Quebec’s unemployment rate decreased to 9.5%, the third consecutive monthly decrease.

The number of people employed in British Columbia increased by 70,000 (+3.0%) in July, reaching 93.5% of the February employment level, with the unemployment rate falling to 11.1%. Vancouver, however, is lagging slightly behind BC as a whole; employment in the city and its surrounding suburbs is at 89.9% of the February level.

Alberta showed its first decrease in unemployment since the economic shutdown, dropping to 12.8% from 15.5% last month. Employment in Alberta increased by 67,000 (+3.2%) in July, including gains in both full-time and part-time work.

Employment in Saskatchewan rose by 13,000 (+2.5%) while the unemployment rate fell to 8.8%. Neighbouring Manitoba increased (+12,000) for the third consecutive month and the unemployment rate declined to 8.2%.

Out east, employment in Newfoundland and Labrador increased by 4,300 (+2.1%) and the unemployment rate dropped to 15.6%.

In Nova Scotia, employment rose by 3,400 (+0.8%) in July, reaching 92.7% of its February level. The unemployment rate in the province declined to 10.8%.

Employment in Prince Edward Island rose by 1,100 in July (+1.5%), adding to the gains in the previous two months. The unemployment rate declined to 11.7%.

In New Brunswick, employment was little changed in July after recording employment gains of 39,000 from April to June. Employment in the province was at 96.6% of its pre-COVID February level, the most complete employment recovery of all provinces to date.

Each province’s employment figures are far stronger in July than back in April, as shown by the table below, courtesy of StatsCan.

The Canadian economy added 953,000 new jobs in June, of which a slim majority (488,000) were in full-time positions. Many businesses forced closed by the pandemic have now reopened, hiring back workers who had been temporarily laid off and, in some cases, hiring for entirely new positions.

With back-to-back months of job growth in Canada — nearly 300,000 jobs were added in May — and consumer confidence returning, workers and families across the country, including immigrants, may be relieved to see real signs of life in the Canadian economy after a tough few months.

The unemployment rate in Canada fell to 12.3 percent in June after hitting a record high of 13.7 percent in May. While this was the largest monthly decline on record, the unemployment rate remains much higher than February, when it was 5.6 percent.

Canada’s economic rebound continues

Around three million workers in Canada lost their jobs through March and April, an unprecedented number of layoffs, due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

According to Statistics Canada, the government agency that compiles these monthly job figures, employment rose by nearly one million in June (+953,000; +5.8%), with gains split between full-time work (+488,000 or +3.5%) and part-time work (+465,000 or +17.9%). However, employment in June was 1.8 million (-9.2%) lower than in February, before the pandemic unleashed its effects on public health and the economy.

So, Canada still has a way to go before pre-Covid employment levels might be a reality again.

Sharper recovery than previous economic downturns

The employment losses resulting from the COVID-19 economic shutdown were unprecedented in their speed and depth, but there is a fundamental difference between the 2020 economic downturn and previous downturns. In this case, the economy was effectively frozen, deliberately so, in the interests of public health. This resulted in quite a different sort of downturn whereby legislators, acting on the advice of public health authorities, implemented temporary measures such as the closure of many businesses and stay-at-home orders.

As those measures are relaxed, the economy returns to life.

With the easing of restrictions in May and June, the initial recovery of employment — to within 9.2% of pre-pandemic levels — has been sharper than in previous downturns, when recovery to pre-downturn employment has taken from two to five years.

This gradual easing of restrictions and the re-opening of the economy continues to present both opportunities and challenges for employers and workers. Physical distancing in restaurants, bars, cafes, and stores means that many businesses are not operating at full capacity, or even close to it.

Statistics Canada states that as more Covid-related restrictions are eased and economic activity resumes, it is expected that the number of people on temporary layoff will decrease as people return to their previous job or, either by necessity or choice, transition to looking for new work.

Employment increases in all provinces

By the time the latest jobs data was gathered in mid-June, all provinces and cities across Canada had substantially eased their Covid-related restrictions, and this was reflected in the job growth figures nationwide.

In Ontario, Canada’s most populous province, employment rose by 378,000 in June (+5.9% over May), the first increase since the economic shutdown. The proportion of people working less than half of their usual hours declined by 6.5 percentage points to 14.1 percent in Ontario, where the unemployment rate declined 1.4 percentage points to 12.2 percent as the number of people on temporary layoff declined. The recovery rate in Toronto, the largest city in Ontario and Canada, was slightly slower than in Ontario as a whole, mainly due to the fact that the easing of some restrictions in Toronto was delayed until June 24.

Quebec’s unemployment rate, at 10.7%, is now below the national average. Quebec added 248,000 (+6.5%) jobs in June, adding to similar gains (+231,000) in May when the province led the way in job growth nationally. The unemployment rate in Montreal is now 12.3 percent, down nearly three percentage points from May. The decline in unemployment in Quebec was entirely driven by fewer people on temporary layoff.

British Columbia added 118,000 jobs in June, following an increase of 43,000 in May. The proportion of employed people working less than half of their usual hours declined, and the unemployment rate edged down 0.4 percentage points to 13.0 percent.

In the other Western provinces, employment increased in Saskatchewan (+30,000) for the first time since the economic shutdown and rose for the second consecutive month in both Alberta (+92,000) and Manitoba (+29,000).

In New Brunswick, the first province to begin easing restrictions during the spring, employment increased by 22,000 in June.

Employment increased in the other Eastern provinces as well. For the second consecutive month Nova Scotia (+29,000) had net job growth, while Newfoundland and Labrador (+6,000) and Prince Edward Island (+1,700) also chipped in.

The lowest current unemployment levels in Canada are in Quebec (10.7 percent) and New Brunswick (9.9 percent).

Canada’s economy added 289,600 jobs in May, most of them full-time, as parts of the economy reopened during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Some economists had predicted a loss of around half a million more jobs in May — in addition to the three million or so jobs lost in Canada through March and April — and an unemployment rate of 15%.

But the latest data from Statistics Canada shows an unemployment rate of 13.7%, up from 13% last month. The increase in Canada’s unemployment rate came as more people started looking for work, rather than additional layoffs. 

Statistics Canada also says the number of people who worked less than half their usual hours fell by 292,000 in May.

The reopening of Canada’s economy comes as provinces and municipalities can say with confidence that they are “past the peak” of contagion having “flattened the curve”, with more manageable case loads and new practices in place to ensure that businesses that are allowed to reopen in some way may do so safely. This has allowed businesses to reopen in a staged manner, a practice that should continue through the summer months, all going according to plan.

So, is this month’s Jobs Report good or bad news? Trevin Stratton, the Canadian Chamber of Commerce’s Chief Economist and VP of Policy, says we shouldn’t read too much into the figures just yet.

“It is indeed a strange time when we react favorably to slowing job losses that by any standard measure would be catastrophic. Today’s figures [289,600 jobs gained, but 13.7% unemployment] are both terrible and positive at the same time,” he said in a release.

Meanwhile, Royce Mendes, senior economist at Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CIBC), noted, “The surprisingly positive readings on employment paint a more optimistic picture of the early part of the recovery, but there’s still a long road back.”

The long road back: where are the new jobs created in Canada?

Quebec accounted for nearly 80 per cent of the jobs created. Employment in Quebec increased by 231,000 (+6.5%) and the proportion of workers who worked less than half their usual work hours for COVID-19-related reasons declined by 6.6 percentage points to 19.3%. 

This follows a devastating early spring during which the unemployment rate in Quebec shot up to 17%, a rate that has now snapped back in line with the national average at 13.7%. The Quebec provincial government eased restrictions on much business before Statistics Canada gathered data mid-May, notably in construction from mid-April, and in retail trade and manufacturing outside Montreal from May 4. Despite the slower reopening of the economy in the Montreal census metropolitan area, home to nearly half the population of Quebec, employment increased by 97,000 (+5.3%) in the Montreal CMA in May.

Montreal posted strong job creation figures for May.

The proportion of workers working from a location other than home increased from 60% in April to 65% in May. The largest employment increases in Quebec were in construction (+58,000), manufacturing (+56,000) and wholesale and retail trade (+54,000), three industries with a relatively high proportion of jobs that are difficult to do from home. The fact that Quebec has a higher share of jobs that are difficult to perform off-site goes a long way to explaining why its rise in unemployment earlier this year was so extreme, and why its recovery now is so impressive.

Montreal’s unemployment rate (15.2%) is now in line with Canada’s two other largest cities, Toronto (15.4%) and Vancouver (14.1%), with the latter two having seen a rise in unemployment in May.

Ontario, home to Toronto, was the only province to see a loss in net job creation in May (-65,000). Most restrictions on economic activity remained in place in Ontario when the jobs data was gathered, as Ontario’s government has taken a more cautious approach to reopening the economy. We may expect job creation in Ontario to grow through the summer months as its phased reopening unfolds.

British Columbia added 43,000 jobs in May and the unemployment rate rose 1.9 percentage points to 13.4% as more people looked for work. Almost all of the employment increase in B.C. were in the services-producing sector (+41,000), led by accommodation and food services (+12,000), educational services (+12,000), and wholesale and retail trade (+12,000). Like Ontario, B.C. should show stronger employment figures over the coming months.

Meanwhile, unemployment in Alberta now stands at 15.5%, while the Prairie provinces of Saskatchewan (12.5%) and Manitoba (11.2%) are holding steady as their phased reopenings take shape. Out East, Newfoundland (16.3%) now has the highest unemployment rate in Canada, despite 10,000 new jobs in May, while Nova Scotia (13.6%), PEI (13.9%), and New Brunswick (12.8%) are all within a percentage point of the national average.

The Canadian economy is feeling the impacts of the coronavirus pandemic, with the loss of around two million jobs in April — a record high — and a national unemployment rate of 13 percent, up from 7.8 in March.

However, leading economists had expected the loss of four million jobs and an unemployment rate of 18 per cent by now.

The April Labour Force Survey (LFS) from Statistics Canada reflect labour market conditions during the week of April 12 to April 18. By then, the COVID-19 economic shutdown — including a number of travel restrictions, business closures, and physical distancing measures — had been fully implemented across Canada.

Before the coronavirus made its way to Canada, national unemployment was steady at less than 6 percent and wage growth was outpacing inflation. The loss of 1,993,800 jobs in April follows one million jobs lost in March, while many of those who still have work have seen their hours and incomes slashed.

As of the week of April 12, the cumulative effect of the COVID-19 economic shutdown—the number of Canadians who were either not employed or working substantially reduced hours—was 5.5 million, or more than one-quarter of February’s employment level. – StatsCan

But if any country can bounce back quickly, it’s Canada. The government’s wage subsidy scheme, which encourages employers to retain workers by covering up to 75% of wages for a 12-week period, is now in full flow, as is the Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB), which assists those who have been laid off.

However, the state may not be willing or able to offer this level of economic support beyond a few months. Fortunately, Canada’s provinces, little by little and at varying speeds, are opening up more sectors of their economies through May and into the summer months, in doing so giving workers and families the economic support they need by more traditional means. As more provinces’ economies open to more sectors over time, it may be expected that more workers will be engaged in employment, even if in some cases they work fewer hours or earn less income than previously.

Has Canada reached peak unemployment for this pandemic?

It’s probably too early to say, but signs are that the dramatic hike in unemployment from February to March and again into April may not be as bad when May’s figures are released in early June. Indeed, it is possible that the unemployment rate will steady or even decrease as government support schemes continue and more sectors of the economy open for business.

Where in Canada has high unemployment right now?

Canada’s three largest cities — Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver — have all suffered to some extent since February, but Montreal in particular witnessed a drastic climb in unemployment. Quebec’s largest city clocked in with unemployment sitting at 18.2% in April, up from less than 5% in February.

Meanwhile, Toronto’s unemployment rate for April stood at 11.1% (up from 5.5%) and Vancouver’s 10.8% (up from 4.6).

Montreal’s unemployment rate has skyrocketed.

As for the provincial picture, again it’s Quebec, with an unemployment rate of 17%, leading a race that nobody wants to win. Newfoundland (16%) follows in second, with the other Atlantic provinces of New Brunswick (13.2%), Nova Scotia (12%), and PEI (10.8%) faring slightly better. Out west, Manitoba (11.4%), Saskatchewan (11.3%), Alberta (13.4%), and British Columbia (11.5%) have all seen rises in unemployment to varying extents. Ontario, Canada’s most populous province and home to the highest share of newcomers, has an unemployment rate of 11.3%.

And how are immigrants in Canada doing?

Employment among recent immigrants (those who arrived within the past five years) fell more sharply from February to April (-23.2%) than it did for non-immigrants (-14.0%). According to StatsCan, this is partly because recent immigrants are more likely than people born in Canada to work in industries that have been particularly affected by the COVID-19 economic shutdown, such as accommodation and food services, and less likely to work in less severely-impacted industries, such as public administration.

More established immigrants are faring better. This may be expected, as these immigrants have had more time to put down roots, establish professional careers and, in many cases, enter public administration jobs. Employment among the total landed immigrant population declined by 18.0% from February to April (not adjusted for seasonality), as established immigrants (10 years or more) (-17.0%) and recent immigrants (more than 5 but less than 10 years) (-17.4%) fared better than their very recently-arrived counterparts.

It was all going so well.

Just weeks ago, the outlook for Canada’s labour market was favourable. The national unemployment rate had hovered between 5 and 6 percent for the previous couple of years, and companies were struggling to find workers. Wage increases were outpacing inflation. Canada’s economy was humming. Everything was rosy. The immediate future looked bright.

Then the coronavirus pandemic hit, and hit hard. Over recent weeks COVID-19 has wiped out jobs, either temporarily or permanently. The global health crisis quickly initiated a severe economic downturn, and companies started laying off staff in their droves – well over one million workers in Canada applied for Employment Insurance (EI) benefits in the couple of weeks after large portions of the economy grinded to a halt. Many of those who kept their job (so far) have seen their hours reduced, affecting their income.

This probably does not tell the whole story of COVID-19 and Canada’s economy so far, however. StatsCan, Canada’s national statistics agency, released its monthly Labour Force Survey on April 9, using March 15 to 21 as the sample week – a time when the government began enforcing strict guidelines around social gatherings and called on non-essential businesses to close up shop. But this Mid-March snapshot does not include layoffs from late March or early April, and so Canada’s unemployment rate today is probably even higher than 7.8%.

“These interventions resulted in a dramatic slowdown in economic activity and a sudden shock to the Canadian labour market,” states the StatsCan report. “The slowdown continued beyond the LFS [Labour Force Survey] reference week and is likely to be more fully reflected in April LFS data.”

The unemployment rate increased in all provinces except Newfoundland and Labrador and Prince Edward Island. The largest increases were in Quebec (+3.6 percentage points to 8.1%), British Columbia (+2.2 percentage points to 7.2%), and Ontario (+2.1 percentage points to 7.6%). And though Alberta’s unemployment rate officially stands at 8.7% (+1.5 points), Alberta Premier Jason Kenney has predicted unheard-of unemployment levels to come in that province, as high as 22% as more employers fight to survive.

March showed the steepest one-month decline in employment in data that go back to 1976. (Source: StatsCan, Globe and Mail)

Not all bad news

“Almost all of the increase in unemployment was due to temporary layoffs, meaning that workers expected to return to their job within six months,” reads the findings. As far as StatsCan is concerned, the glass is half full.

To bridge the gap, the Government of Canada has rushed through a number of measures that Prime Minister Trudeau calls ‘the largest economic program in Canada’s history’. This package includes a 75% wage subsidy (yet to be fully rolled out) and the Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB), which opened for applications on April 6 and is already sending out money to affected workers. Canada’s Employment Insurance (EI) program has also kicked into high gear for many of those who were laid off over recent weeks.

Canada is dipping into its rainy day fund, but this time it’s pouring. Finance Minister Bill Morneau estimates the total cost of the wage subsidy at $71 billion and the emergency response benefit at another $24 billion.

To learn more about entitlements and economic support for newcomers to Canada, please visit our guide.

When we last spoke to you it was election day in Canada, remember how warm it was? Yeah, us too! Back then we stated that the strength of the economy would be a key reason why the Liberal Party would emerge victorious and that they did. Unfortunately, the positivity in Canada’s employment figures didn’t continue in November as the unemployment rate jumped to 5.9 percent, with the country losing 71,200 jobs that month. Thankfully, the tide turned significantly in December with more than 38,000 full-time jobs being created, and many other part-time positions to boot. This increase reduced the unemployment rate to 5.6 percent.

Ontario and Quebec were the two provinces that led the job gains in the last quarter, with each province adding over 20,000 jobs in December alone. Furthermore,in Ontario there were 245,000 jobs created in 2019. On the flip-side, Newfoundland experienced 5,000 job losses in December.

Finally, the unemployment rate for landed immigrants, that’s anyone who has the right to live in Canada permanently, was 5.6 percent – broadly in line with Canada as a whole.

You can get more details on this information and much more from a video we recorded in snowy Montreal today.

It’s October, the sun is shining, the leaves have turned a beautiful shade of Autumnal gold and we’re less than a week out from the Canadian federal election. If that wasn’t enough, the the Quarterly Canada Jobs Report from Moving2Canada is here to paint a detailed picture of how the economy has been performing over the past three months.

Employment rose by 54,000 in September, which resulted in the unemployment rate declining by 0.2 percentage points to 5.5 percent. In the past three months, employment increased by 111,000, or 0.6 percent. On a year-over-year basis, employment grew by 456,000, or 2.4 percent. Over the same period, total hours worked were up 1.3 percent.

Canada job market: Fall 2019

Canada Job Market Fall 2019 update

New Canadian employment figures are released each month, and you’ll always find the latest data here on our Quarterly Canada Jobs Report.

The data below comes from the Labour Force Survey, produced by Statistics Canada.

• To view jobs in Canada, visit our Jobs Board
• Visit our Resume Format in Canada page for help with your resume
• Practical advice for finding jobs in Canada
• For construction jobs in Canada, visit Outpost Recruitment

Want to dig deeper into the Canada Jobs Report data? Try these interactive tools, courtesy of StatsCan.

The Provincial Picture

What industries are attracting immigrants to Canada?

The latest jobs figures in Canada are healthy. Very healthy, in fact. Speaking on the continued jobs growth in Canada in the third quarter, Josh Nye, senior economist at Royal Bank of Canada, had this to say:

“There was no give-back after August’s strong jobs numbers as Canada recorded another above-50,000 employment gain in September (the fifth such increase in nine months this year). The labour force is growing at its fastest pace in more than a decade, helping sustain job growth late in the economic cycle.”

But what has this got to with immigrants? Well, quite a lot actually.

Newcomers arrive to Canada for a whole host of reasons but job openings and new career opportunities are two of the most important factors. We also know that immigrants continue to contribute to Canada’s economy with unemployment levels either below or slightly above the figure for all Canadians depending on the origin continent of the immigrants in question. With that in mind, we have decided to share this visual representation of the top five industries being pursued by Express Entry candidates to Canada. We hope that this information will help you understand the Canadian jobs market, and the role of immigrants in it, more closely.

If you want to see how the figures in this quarter’s Jobs Report compare with previous ones, then feel free to view our helpful slides below.

Canada’s monthly unemployment rate increased from 5.4 to 5.5 percent in June, and while it is never positive to see this total creeping upwards, the reality is that the employment landscape in Canada remains extremely buoyant in the first half of 2019. In fact, the 5.5 percent unemployment total is a sizable drop from the already lean 5.8 percent figure from January.

In the last six months, the Canadian economy has added 247,500 jobs – the majority of them are full time positions – meaning that this is the single biggest employment growth spurt since 2002.

In addition, wage growth has increased by more than 2 percentage points since January as employers continue to compete for the best candidates. From a provincial perspective, almost all provinces (Manitoba and Newfoundland and Labrador) have seen unemployment rate reductions since the start of the year.

Finally, immigrants continue to prosper in Canada in 2019 as the economy reaches record-level growth. Find out what employers are saying about the role they play ahead of this October’s federal election below.

Canada job market: 2019’s first six months

Canada Job Market Summer 2019 update

New Canadian employment figures are released each month, and you’ll always find the latest data here on our Moving2Canada Jobs Report.

The data below comes from the Labour Force Survey, produced by Statistics Canada.

• To view jobs in Canada, visit our Jobs Board
• Visit our Resume Format in Canada page for help with your resume
• Practical advice for finding jobs in Canada
• For construction jobs in Canada, visit Outpost Recruitment

Want to dig deeper into the Canada Jobs Report data? Try these interactive tools, courtesy of StatsCan.

The Provincial Picture

October election is business time for immigrants to Canada

With just over three months to go until Canadians go to the polls to elect a new federal government, it should come as little surprise that the issue of immigration is to the fore.

The number of immigrants moving and settling in Canada has increased steadily under Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s premiership – with 321,035 new permanent residents in Canada in 2018 – and a political debate has emerged about what immigration route Canada should pursue in the next four years. However, among the business community, there appears to be a clear consensus on this issue.

With the Canadian unemployment rate currently at 5.5 percent, it is widely predicted that immigrants will be needed to grow the economy in the months and years to come. A June 25 report showed the country’s farm labour shortage is costing billions and is expected to balloon in the next decade.

Speaking on the vital role that immigrants have played in growing the Canadian economy, Goldy Hyder, head of the Business Council of Canada, had this to say:

“We don’t want immigration to be used as a political weapon here as it has been in the United States.We agree with the federal government’s targets and we need to meet those targets. The facts clearly demonstrate that Canada is going to need immigrants to help grow the economy.”

This sentiment was echoed by Rocco Rossi, head of Ontario’s Chamber of Commerce who stated that:

“We could do with even more (immigrants), we have enormous needs.”

It remains to be seen what will happen in October’s federal election but it’s not an exaggeration to suggest that the country’s continued economic growth is intrinsically tied to the number of immigrants entering Canada each year. We will continue to monitor this situation closely and keep you informed of all updates.

If you want to see how the figures in this month’s Jobs Report compare with previous months, then feel free to view our helpful slides below.