The recent deterioration of the Canadian labour market comes at a time when immigration and population growth have also increased significantly. Many have put the two together, and attributed rising unemployment solely to the increase in the labour force due to newcomers. On that, we have a different view.

It is true that landed immigrants are seeing a faster increase in the unemployment rate, but that’s been the case whenever the economy has softened in previous periods. This time around, the bigger deterioration was seen among students and new graduates who are having an increasingly hard time landing a job as demand for labour continues to pull back.

In this week’s episode of the 10-Minute Take, RBC economists Claire Fan and Carrie Freestone unpack trends in the labour market, starting with how immigration fits into it all. They’ll then discuss which age groups and industries have been hit particularly hard, before finishing up with what to expect going forward.