Thank you, Mr. Chair and committee members, for inviting us today to provide a brief overview of recent developments in Canada's labour market.
Labour market conditions in Canada remain tight by historical standards but have eased in recent months. Employment grew by approximately 30,000 per month on average between January and September of this year. That growth needs to be interpreted in the context of record-high population growth.
The employment rate—the proportion of the population aged 15 and older who are employed—was 62% in September. Little changed from one year earlier, but it's down 0.5 percentage points from the beginning of the year in January 2023. After reaching a near record low of 5% at the end of 2022, Canada's unemployment rate has increased slightly and now sits at 5.5%.
While recruitment remains a challenge for many businesses, the number of job vacancies in Canada has decreased by close to 30% since the summer of 2022. Positions requiring a high school diploma or less continue to represent the majority—just under 60% of total job vacancies.
I'll now turn to a discussion of labour market conditions more specifically for youth and students.
Each year, from May to August, the labour force survey collects labour market information on youth aged 15 to 24 who report that they were attending school full time in the spring and who intend to return to school full time in the fall. For the remainder of my remarks, I'll be referring to this group as “returning students”.
On average, from May to August 2023, just over half—53%—of returning students aged 15 to 24 were employed. The employment rate for this group was similar to the rate recorded before the pandemic, but it's down slightly from the recent peak recorded in the summer of 2022, when, for both youth and older workers alike, labour market conditions were particularly tight.
Small businesses are an important source of summer student employment. In the summer of 2023, over four in 10 returning students worked for a small business, compared with one in three employed persons overall. Although young returning students can work in a wide variety of industries—and do work in a wide variety of industries—about half of them work in either retail trade or accommodation and food services. This pattern has been consistent over time.
Proportionately, more young female returning students worked in health care and social assistance in 2023 than young men, while more young men than women worked in manufacturing. Over the summer of 2023, returning students earned $17.84 per hour on average. This was up 4.3% from the same period a year earlier, which was comparable to the growth in average hourly wages for employees as a whole.
Despite a relatively tight labour market, there remains untapped labour supply across many segments of Canada's increasingly diverse population, including among students. For example, among returning students in the summer of 2023, those who were part of a racialized group were generally less likely to have a job. The employment rates for South Asian, Black and Chinese Canadian students were all lower than the average returning student population.
Mr. Chair, this concludes my opening statement. I would be happy to answer any questions you may have.