08:35 AM EDT, 08/13/2024 (MT Newswires) -- Canada's youth (15-24 years old) unemployment rate rose to 14.2% in July, the highest non-pandemic reading in over a decade, noted Bank of Montreal (BMO).

By comparison, prime-age unemployment is up 0.4 ppt year-over-year. To cite Statistics Canada, the unemployment rate for returning students was 17.2% in July, the highest non-pandemic rate for July since 2009 -- a deep recession, said the bank.

Part of the challenge is that many service businesses went

through a generationally difficult shock during the pandemic and some dislocation persists, according to BMO. However, it mainly reflects labor force saturation from historic immigration -- namely lower-skilled temporary international workers and students.

Youth hiring has slowed (+0.2% y/y) and the participation rate has fallen, pointed out the bank.

However, before starting to call kids "lazy," BMO added that the population in that cohort has exploded by almost 12% in the past two years.

No job market could ever be expected to absorb such an influx and this one certainly isn't either, concluded the bank.