Recent immigrants to Canada are facing significant challenges in the labour market, with their unemployment rates rising sharply over the past year, according to new data from Statistics Canada.
The latest figures reveal that the unemployment rate for recent immigrants — those who have landed in Canada within the last five years — has surged by 3.1 percentage points, reaching 12.6% as of July 2024. This increase stands in stark contrast to the comparatively modest rise in unemployment among Canadian-born individuals.
The struggle is particularly pronounced among recent immigrant youth. For this demographic, the unemployment rate jumped by 8.6 percentage points to 22.8% over the past year. This figure underscores the difficulties young immigrants face in securing employment, exacerbated by barriers such as the non-recognition of foreign credentials and the lack of Canadian job experience or references.
Among recent immigrants of core working age, defined as those between 25 and 54, the unemployment rate rose by 2.0 percentage points to 10.4%. In comparison, the unemployment rate for Canadian-born workers increased by just 0.5 percentage points, reaching 5.6% in July 2024. More established immigrants—those who have been in Canada for more than five years—also saw a rise in unemployment, though to a lesser degree, with their rate increasing by 1.2 percentage points to 6.3%.