The federal government’s lowering of immigration rates has kept the unemployment rate 1 percentage point lower and reduced pressure on the country’s housing market in the face of U.S. tariffs, according to a new report by TD Bank.
“All told, these developments are proving timely as the country simultaneously navigates a policy shock from the United States,” authors of the Oct. 28 report said.
The report said Canada’s unemployment rate would have been at 8.1 percent instead of the current 7.1 percent if Ottawa had not reduced the flow of immigrants into the country, assuming that employers absorbed 30 percent of the new labour supply. The report said even with a more “generous” assumption that employers would absorb 50 percent of the new labour supply, Canada’s unemployment rate would still have risen to over 7.5 percent….