A rise in Canadian employment is an ongoing trend in Canada.
September witnessed a decline in the national unemployment rate from 0.2 percent to 5.2 percent. Statistics Canada displayed a positive pattern in the Canadian labor market of the employment sector. However, concerns regarding an aging population and the number of retirees in the coming decade continue to exist.
Provinces and territories witnessed increased employment trends, including Manitoba, British Columbia, Yukon, Nunavut, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia. On the other hand, Ontario, Prince Edward Island, and the Northwest Territories experienced a partial decline.
Prime population between the age group of 25 and 54, more than 0.8 percent of women contributed to increased employment while men continued at a steady rate. This data calls for a positive employment trend in Canada.
Employment gains occurred in various sectors, including education services, healthcare, and social assistance services. Losses also occurred in sectors, such as transportation, warehousing, manufacturing, information, public administration, culture, and recreation.
However, service sector industries displayed an increasing trend in spending. The business levels are the same as they were before the pandemic broke out.
There has been a drastic decline in the percentage of people searching for work when unemployed. The number of people who didn’t have any employment for a consistent period of 27 weeks accounts for 9.7 percent.
Although the hiring trend in Canada might be doing well with increased employment opportunities, there are many aspects of this trend that don’t look too positive for the upcoming years.
Labor force
In September, the labor force concerning both employment and unemployment underwent a decline of -0.4 percent, while the participation rate fell to -0.1 percent. These reduced percentages point out at the consistent trends of the month and year, emphasizing the need to bridge the acute gap within the Canadian labor market. Additionally, the participation of the national labor force was reduced to 2.4 percent. All these declines have become more prominent and substantial to consider. Apart from this, it is highly essential for Canada to confront the ongoing challenges of an aging population, an increasing number of retirees, and an acute labor shortage.
As per official reports, more than a million people between the age group of 55 and 64 were on the verge of retirement.
With an increased population meeting, the retirement age increased to 11.6 percent. These were people aged 65 years and above. On the other hand, the working-age population grew to only 3.5 percent. Therefore, Canada needs to adopt several other measures to avoid facing a massive labor shortage.
Foreign workers and their significance
Immigration is the chief factor and the most reliable one to meet the various challenges of the aging population, labor shortage, and increased employment vacancies.
As expected, natural growth is not something that would help Canada to face such severe difficulties as a country. This is also due to lower fertility rates and an aging population and therefore, there is an ardent need for the country and its government to strategize their immigration programs to increase the millennial workforce.
The healthcare and social assistance sectors underwent a severe decline in the workforce and therefore, IRCC looks forward to welcoming 430,000 new immigrants annually.
The government of Canada is all ready to declare and table out the new Immigration Levels Plan of 2023-2025 by November 1, 2022.
