Canadian Immigration Policy Isn’t Helping Anyone: BMO
Canada’s attempt to use immigration as stimulus might be backfiring. That was the message from a new BMO report, looking at the unusually high unemployment rate for recent immigrants. The labor market for recent immigrants is eroding much faster than it is for the rest of Canada—at a rate rarely seen outside of recession. The problem is this isn’t a recession, the aggressive population growth just isn’t doing anyone a favors.
The Unemployment Rate For Recent Immigrants In Canada Surged
Immigrants are being sold on an opportunity in Canada, but they can’t even see where it begins. Those that arrived within the past five years face an unemployment rate that hit 13% in July. Just over 1 in 7 are struggling to find a job, despite fitting the criteria of being ready, willing, and able. Those who are full-time students seeking work aren’t included in those numbers.
A bad job market is a bad job market, right? That’s the problem—it’s not that bad. The bank highlights that recent immigrants face an unemployment rate 7 points higher than the general population.
“That’s the widest spread in over a decade,” explains Robert Kavcic, a senior economist at BMO.
He charted the unemployment rate gap between immigrants over time and those born in Canada. What he found is that the current scenario is far from normal. …[Continue Reading]