Canada's unemployment rate in August rose from 6.4% to 6.6%. Andrew Grantham, economist at the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CIBC), said that the closer the unemployment rate is to the threshold of 7%, the more likely the Bank of Canada will face pressure to accelerate the pace of interest rate cuts. CIBC had predicted a peak unemployment rate of 6.6%. Grantham said that the unemployment rate may exceed the expected high point, and the increase in the number of unemployed people is becoming more widespread, not just immigrants and students. For example, the unemployment rate for the population aged 25 to 54, the prime working age group, rose from 5.1% in July to 5.4% in August.