06:17 AM EDT, 09/05/2025 (MT Newswires) -- One item in the August Canadian jobs data likely to draw a "lot of attention" will be the youth unemployment rate, Bank of Montreal (BMO) said.

Canada is set to release the Labour Force Survey for August at 8:30 a.m. ET Friday.

The youth unemployment rate reached 14.6% in July, the highest non-pandemic reading since 2010, the bank noted.

BMO pointed to rapid growth in the 15-24 age group, driven in part by international students, as a key factor. But a Canadian academic has argued the increase is demand-driven, citing a falling job vacancy rate.

The bank countered that the vacancy rate has been pushed lower by strong labour supply. Vacancies now stand at 2.8%, last seen in late 2017, when the jobless rate for those over 25 was 5.5%, just below today's 5.7%.

At that time, the youth jobless rate was 10.5%, about four points lower than now. BMO said this suggests that population growth over the past four years has directly pressured youth employment.