Canada launches new immigration program to fill 'in-demand'

Andrew

Jun 2

As expected:

Immigration applicants with experience in any of five sectors could be selected for permanent residence through a new system designed to better align newcomers with Canada's labour market needs.

On Wednesday, Immigration Minister Sean Fraser launched the highly anticipated "category-based selection" — better known as the "targeted draw" of skilled immigrants — which was first announced last June.

In additional to focusing on picking those with strong French language proficiency, the new tool will target those in the talent pool with a background in five key occupational sectors:

Health care;
Science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) professions;
Trades, such as carpenters, plumbers and contractors;
Transport; and
Agriculture and agri-food.

"Everywhere I go, I've heard loud and clear from employers across the country who are experiencing chronic labour shortages. These changes to the Express Entry system will ensure that they have the skilled workers they need to grow and succeed," Fraser said in a news release.

"We can also grow our economy and help businesses with labour shortages while also increasing the number of French-proficient candidates to help ensure the vitality of French-speaking communities. Put simply, Canada's immigration system has never been more responsive to the country's social or economic needs."

The job categories have been determined following public consultations, as well as a review of labour market needs. A complete list of eligible jobs for the new categories is available on the immigration department website.

Currently, applicants for skilled immigration programs enter into the Express Entry pool, where they are given points and ranked based on attributes such as age, educational achievements, language proficiency, work experience and availability of a job offer.

Regular draws are conducted to invite those with the highest scores to apply for permanent residence. However, the system doesn't allow the immigration department to overrule the ranking system and pick a candidate in an "in-demand" profession if the person's score doesn't meet the thresholds of those draws.

According to Statistics Canada, the number of job vacancies in the fourth quarter of 2022 decreased by 78,600 or 8.2 per cent to 876,300, marking the second consecutive quarterly decline.

The number of unfilled jobs fell in 16 of 20 broad industrial sectors, particularly in accommodation and food services (-21,400) and administrative and support, waste management and remediation services (-15,800).

Job vacancies also fell in seven of 10 broad occupational groups, including trades, transport and equipment operators and related occupations (-22,200) and sales and service occupations (-20,100).

There were 147,300 job vacancies in health occupations in the fourth quarter, little changed from the record high reached in the third quarter.

Fraser said further details on the timing of invitations for individual categories and how to apply will be announced in the coming weeks.

Source: Canada launches new immigration program to fill 'in-demand' jobsCanada launches new immigration program to fill 'in-demand' jobs

And criticism from labour economists:

MIKAL SKUTERUD, the director of the Canadian Labour Economics Forum, took issue with a minister meddling in a system for grading talent that is supposed to be apolitical. He wrote that he was concerned the immigration system will fall unduly under the influence of business lobbyists.

"If the objective of the policy is to target skilled candidates with work experience in the sectors listed in the news release, why were these applicants unable to satisfy the selection criteria of the existing Express Entry system?" he wrote to PTM.

"The only possible answer I can think of is that this reform seeks to bypass the [Comprehensive Ranking System] which, in effect, means providing eased pathways to PR status for immigrants with lower skill levels and lower expected earnings."

The Comprehensive Ranking System is the existing method by which the government scores the workforce potential of prospective economic immigrants.

Bringing in immigrants who earn less than would otherwise be the case could inhibit GDP per capita and standard of living growth, wrote Skuterud.

CHRISTOPHER WORSWICK, who teaches the economics of immigration at Carleton University, wrote:

"I am generally not in favour of this novel, category-based selection method. It would be better to focus on improving the Comprehensive Ranking System. This seems like a step backward from what had been a human capital-based (or expected earnings-based) selection process. I suspect this is designed to allow the government to choose less-skilled applicants to satisfy the demands of different business lobby groups."

Worswick wrote that he suspected that some of the newly prioritized industries and occupations in trades contracting, transport, and agriculture could lead to an influx of low-earning immigrants.

"If we bring in workers whenever employer groups say there is a 'labour shortage,' we risk keeping wages low and hurting lower-wage workers in Canada who may need wage growth, especially given our challenges with inflation. We should focus on bringing in economic immigrants with the highest human capital (as measured by expected earnings)," he wrote.