Immigration and Job Vacancies in Canada — Shouldn’t rely only on immigration to fill the gaps in the labour market writes LMIC

New immigrants are often discussed as a group that could help fill Canada’s labour market gaps. Canada has a track record of attracting educated and highly skilled immigrants. In 2023, Canada expects to receive 500,000 immigrants.  However, assuming a constant employment rate, the core-aged immigrant population (those aged 25 to 54 years) would need to increase by 22.4% (from 4.4 million to 5.4 million people) to fill the vacancy gap.This means that relying on immigration to fill all of Canada’s job vacancies would require more than doubling the current immigration target. (Alternatively, an 18.6 percentage point increase in the immigrant employment rate—to 101.6%, keeping population constant—would be required to fill the vacancies. Clearly, this is unrealistic.)Admitting more immigrants is not a simple solution. Many trained immigrants struggle to find work in their fields, and children represent a significant portion of the immigrant population. Solutions that support newcomers to integrate into the labour market, like better recognition of foreign qualifications, targeted immigration programs, and language training, can help. However, there are significant systemic barriers to growing Canada’s immigrant population, like maintaining affordable housing and adequate public services. In addition, higher numbers of newcomers could exacerbate the demand for goods and services that are already in short supply. As a result, Canada shouldn’t rely only on immigration to fill the gaps in the labour market.

Source: Closing the labour market gap: Approaches to addressing Canada’s job vacancies — LMIC-CIMT