Canada added a total of 100 new jobs in December, while planning to admit at least 485,000 new permanent residents in 2024.
The number of full-time jobs fell by 23,500, while 23,600 new part-time jobs were added – a gain of 100 – Statistics Canada said on Friday.
The unemployment rate stayed at 5.8%, with average hourly wages up 5.4% year-on-year, Canadian Press reported.
Canada’s job growth stagnation comes amid record-high population growth driven by immigration.
The population grew by 430,000 in the third quarter of 2023, including 313,000 non-permanent residents who arrived in Canada between July and September, and 107,972 new permanent resident immigrants, – 96% of the growth, according to Statistics Canada.
Note: SC calls permanent residents “immigrants” and other non-citizens working, studying or claiming asylum in Canada “non-permanent residents”.
In November the Canadian government made a celebratory announcement revealing its immigration levels plans for 2024, announcing aims to “welcome” 485,000 new permanent residents in 2024, and 500,000 in 2025 and 2026. No plans for temporary immigrant levels have been released.
A poll by Leger in November found that just 9% of Canadians want more immigrants, and three-quarters believe immigration in straining the healthcare system and the housing market.
Bank of Canada deputy governor Toni Gravelle said in a speech in December that rapid population growth fuelled by immigration was driving up rents and keeping housing prices high.
“Shortly after immigration began ramping up in 2015, Canada’s vacancy rate … started to fall,” Mr. Gravelle said.
“When newcomer arrivals picked up sharply in early 2022, that steady decline in the vacancy rate became a cliff. Canada’s vacancy rate has now reached a historical low.”
Despite making the bank’s most explicit statement ever on how immigration negatively affects the housing market, Mr Gravelle said “newcomers are a positive thing” and claimed they would help keep inflation lower “in the long run”.