Ottawa gains jobs in July, but young people face tough market

The labour market across the Ottawa continues to see meager growth according to Q3 data from Statistics Canada.

Ottawa saw a 6.3 per cent unemployment rate in July, up from 6 per cent in June. 5,200 full-time jobs opened up while 100 part-time jobs were lost. For some, breaking into the workforce in the capital region has proved a challenge – the current market disproportionally impacting young people in the 15- to 24-year-old age group, as well as new Canadians.

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"When you're young like me, you don't really have any experience," said Ottawa resident Loann Champdoizeau. "If no jobs are hiring people without experience, then you can't get any jobs. It is really difficult."

"For people that are immigrants, like my parents, it's pretty difficult," said Ander Miftari. "People that have studied abroad, have diplomas, and are more or less perfectly qualified for bureaucratic work aren't allowed to carry over their diplomas here. It's pretty unfortunate."

Economic experts say the Q3 figures are consistent with a cooling labour market.

"Full-time employment was up — that was a positive — but I would say, overall, the labor market is coming in weaker than economists expect, and has been for a couple of months," said Randall Bartlett, senior director of Canadian economics with Desjardins.

Bartlett says the lack of significant economic growth points towards market stagnation, but not necessary a recession down the road.

"That certainly suggests that the Canadian economy is potentially slowing somewhat — not a recession, but cooling off — and really falling in line with the direction the Bank of Canada would like it to."

He says he expects the Bank of Canada to ease up on interest rates during Q4, a potential boon for consumers and homeowners.