Statistics Canada recently carried out a labour force survey which revealed that the employment rate of Immigrants in Canada in the past five years is at an all-time low. As per the report, the overall employment rate in Canada fell to 5.3%, which is a record low rate since 1976. The unemployment rate was calculated by dividing the total number of unemployed people by the percentage of the labour force.
The adjusted employment rate referring to individuals who required jobs but were not searching for one at the time dropped to its pre-pandemic level for the first time in two years at 7.2%. The unemployment rate for Canadian born workers is around 4.5% whereas for core-aged immigrants living in Canada for the past 5 years is 8.3%.
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The unemployment rate gap of 3.8 per cent between core-age immigrants and Canadian born workers is the same as before the pandemic. Nathan Janzen, Assistant Chief Economist at RBC Economics, commented, ‘With the unemployment rate so low, virtually all industries are bumping up against labour shortages, including those hospitality sectors that have yet to fully recover.’
As per the report, the increase in employment outpaced the population growth in Canada. Post pandemic, employment has grown by 2.4% whereas the population increased at a rate of 0.8%. Because of this, the Canadian Government is focusing on implementing policies that will facilitate the entry of foreign workers.
Read: Canada Immigration Minister Highlights Initiatives to Immigration Policies
Measures to facilitate entry of foreign workers into Canada
One of the measures that have already been executed by the Government of Canada includes extending the validity period of the Labour Market Impact Assessment (LMIA) period. LMIA periods are used to evaluate whether a Canadian worker’s job will be impacted due to a foreign worker.
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In addition to the above, employers in seasonal industries can now hire as many workers as possible for low-wage positions. The restrictions on how many workers can be hired have been lifted recently. The maximum employment time period for Global Talent and High-Wage stream workers has also been extended from two to three years.
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Other measures that will be in operation after April 30 will include new policies on the percentage of foreign workers in an organisation. Automatic rejection of LMIA for low wage jobs in food, hospitality and retail industries in regions with an employment rate of over 6% will be terminated.
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