Canada’s job market oversold and underdelivered. Statistics Canada (StatCan) data contained a special Labour Force Survey (LFS) supplement examining labour market efficiency in September. The data reveals a huge mismatch—1 in 6 Canadians aren’t working in their field of post-secondary training, and a fifth are overqualified for the work they found. The problem is even more amplified amongst recent immigrants, with 1 in 3 overqualified for the role they’re working.
1 In 6 Canadians Can’t Find Work In Their Field
Canada’s recent graduates are being forced to settle for any job regardless of their education. The latest data revealed 1 in 6 (16.4%) of core-aged workers with post-secondary training worked a job unrelated to their training, up 0.9 points from last year. The biggest surge was young adults aged 25 to 34 years old—with nearly 1 in 5 (18.2%) working unrelated jobs, up 1.6% from last year. It’s a big red flag, potentially indicating that over credentialing is eroding the value of post-secondary education.
Recent immigrants (arrived within 5 years) had a 40% higher rate of working outside their field: Canadian-born workers came in at 15.2%, while recent immigrants were 21.2%.
Over 1 In 5 of Canadian Core Workers Overqualified For Job—It Jumps To 1 In 3 For Recent Immigrants
A further sign of Canada’s overcredentialing issues—even more people are overqualified for their role. The agency found over 1 in 5 (21.8%) of core-aged workers were overqualified in September. While this is unchanged from a year prior, there was a big shift in the composition of those overqualified.
Recent immigrants were overrepresented when it comes to being overqualified at work. Canadian-born workers saw slight improvement with the share falling 1.2 points over the past year to 18.5% in September. In contrast, the share of recent immigrants climbed to 34.7%, up 4.2 points from last year. That’s a 13.7% increase in the share of overqualified recent immigrants—an impressive feat considering policymakers throttled immigration over this period.
Canada’s Labour Market Mismatch Is Due To Excess Supply
The data challenges the narrative that upskilling is the solution to labour market woes. These aren’t just educated workers—they’re recently trained, but unable to find relevant work. Much of this labour is being absorbed by industries that require little post-secondary training, like sales, service, and admin—where nearly a third of overqualified recent immigrants (29.8%) now work.
Canada’s labour force efficiency is eroding as more workers are misallocated. Rising unemployment is often attributed to a lack of training, but the real issue is demand—or lack of credential recognition. Either schools aren’t delivering value, the economy is oversaturated with workers, or credential inflation is locking talent out of viable roles.
Failing to recognize the correct issue can lead to catastrophic results. Canada’s once-strong reputation for high-quality education is weakening, raising quotations about its value. That threatens not only the country’s appeal to immigrants, but the ability to retain young talent. The latter of which is quietly turning into a crisis, with our job creators now creating those jobs elsewhere.
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