Number of temporary workers migrating to province at record high
Advanced degrees no longer guarantee graduates in Quebec jobs that are suitable for them, according to a recent report.
Last month, Quebec’s unemployment rate rose to 5.7%, its highest since 2018, excluding the pandemic, according to a report from the Montreal Gazette. And youth unemployment (age 15 to 24) in the province hit 10.3%.
Also, the number of temporary workers migrating to the province has been record-high.
“The two trends together have created an environment where there are a lot more seekers looking for fewer roles,” said Brendon Bernard, an economist with Indeed Canada, in the Montreal Gazette report.
Overall, there was little change when it comes to Canada’s employment numbers for the month of June compared to the statistics for May, according to StatCan.
In the last three months of 2023, employers were approved to fill more than 81,000 positions through the Temporary Foreign Worker (TFW) Program, reported The Globe and Mail, citing figures shared by the federal government. It was the largest quarter for approvals since Ottawa made several employer-friendly changes to the program in the spring of 2022, according to the report.
Increased demand for employment services
Now, graduates in Quebec face fewer job vacancies and stiff competition in a worsening provincial and national job market, according to the Montreal Gazette report.
New job seekers also face a lack of work experience because of the COVID-19 pandemic and new language laws.
“The job description keeps getting bigger and bigger, and the requirements keep getting higher and higher,” said 29-year-old Enmanuel De Jesús, a Concordia master’s graduate in industrial engineering who speaks English, French and Spanish. “The bar just keeps getting infinitely long.”
The jobseeker from the Dominican Republic completed his master’s degree at the end of 2023 and has been looking for a job in project management – applying for as many jobs as possible, to no avail.
Now, more and more people are seeking employment services from YES Employment + Entrepreneurship, headquartered in Montreal, to help navigate the job market. Overall, there has been a 27% increase in 18- to 35-year-olds using its services in the past year, acting director Marina Boulos-Winton told the Montreal Gazette.
Around two-thirds of YES’s clients hold bachelor’s, master’s or PhD degrees.
“We’re now seeing very educated people not able to get a job,” she said.
The youth unemployment rate in Canada recently soared, and one expert pointed to workers from other countries coming to Canada as one of the reasons.
Unemployment troubles will continue
Last month, the Bank of Canada’s cut on interest rates gave the national employment market a boost, and markets are expecting another cut on Wednesday, according to the Montreal Gazette.
Meanwhile, the federal government announced in March it would cap the number of temporary workers for the first time, to attempt to cool population growth.
In March, the federal government announced it is limiting the use of the TFW program to those who absolutely cannot find Canadians who can fill job openings. Effective May 1, employers will need to explore every option before applying for a Labour Market Impact Assessments (LMIA). This includes recruiting asylum seekers with valid work permits here in Canada.
But these measures will probably take time to have an effect, and the unemployment rate will keep rising, Rishi Sondhi, an economist at TD, told the Montreal Gazette.
“The increase in the unemployment rate we’re seeing is not going away soon,” he said. “This will continue into next year, when economic growth picks up.”