By Immigration.ca |
Visible minorities landed more Canada jobs in May, bucking the overall national trend as the unemployment rate nudged up to 5.2 per cent, the first monthly increase since August, according to the latest Labour Force Survey.
“Among the three largest racialized population groups in Canada, the unemployment rate fell by 0.6 percentage points on a year-over-year basis for South Asian Canadians,” the Statistics Canada report said.
“It was little changed for Chinese … and fell by 1.3 percentage points for Black … Canadians.”
Men and women aged 25 to 54 years old – the age group Statistics Canada calls core-aged – also saw their employment prospects improve in May.
There were 43,000 more of these men with jobs in May, the second consecutive month in which this demographic group saw an improvement in their employment situation. In April, employment among core-aged men had risen by 18,000 from the month of March.
Women of that age also saw a boost in employment in May with 19,000 more of them landing jobs.
The overall drop in employment – and rise in the unemployment rate – in May was primarily due to the lower numbers of youth 15 to 24 years old holding down jobs.
“Among all youth aged 15 to 24, including students and non-students, employment fell by 77,000, down 2.8 per cent, in May, with declines observed for young women, whose employment fell by 43,000 jobs or 3.2 per cent, and young men, who employment declined by 35,000 jobs, or 2.5 per cent,” reports Statistics Canada.
“The youth employment rate was 57.6 per cent in May, down two percentage points from the recent high of 59.6 per cent reached in March and April and offsetting a net increase of 1.9 percentage points recorded from September 2022 to April 2023,” noted the federal agency.
