Even though the Canadian immigration system was conceived in a manner to help fill the gaps in demand of labor to man its’ essential services, it is falling short. This is mainly because of the time lag between the shortage and its’ reflection in jobs that are currently in demand. The other is due to entry into “regulated’ industries is often challenging for immigrants, even if trained for it in their countries of origin.
With a view to addressing this a study is named “Valued Workers, Valuable Work: The Current and Future Role of Immigrant Talent was commissioned. The study by Dr. Yilmaz Dinc has attempted to address the basic cause of this gap and suggest ways to make the immigration policies more resilient and in tune with the socio-economic needs of Canada.
It is a well-known fact that natural-born Canadians avoid working in essential services due to the nature of the opportunity – these jobs are typically not well paying, offering limited mobility and growth opportunities. Even though a quarter of Canada’s labor force is of immigrants, the presence of immigrants in services that require minimal qualifications, such as home care, trucking, food manufacturing, etc. is almost 40 percent. This points to immigrants being almost forced to take up these underpaid jobs, even though they are overqualified. The presence of “overqualified” immigrants results in its own set of unique problems leading to higher attrition due to high levels of job dissatisfaction. It is also a socio-economic loss to the country, as skilled and highly trained immigrants are not able to work in their fields of training and qualification.
Offering PR to Essential Workers:
The study recommends that there should be direct pathways to permanent residency for essential workers. At present the federal immigration programs favor immigrants with degrees, forcing employers to fill job vacancies for essential services with overqualified immigrants or temporary residents. The study has suggested a two-pronged approach to address the problem of overqualification. First is that Canada should allocate more points in the Express Entry system for “essential work”. Express Entry is an online application management system for some of the largest immigration programs such as the Federal Skilled Worker Program and the Canadian Experience Class. The Federal Skilled Trades Program is also managed by Express Entry, however, it is not as popular. It argues that with higher point allocations in the Express Entry system, the right candidates will be invited to apply for Canadian immigration. The study reiterates that if we want more essential services workers, we need to give them a chance in the application system itself so that the right candidates get a chance at permanent residency.
The second recommendation is that we study and learn from earlier programs – for example, it cites the recent TR to PR pathway. This was basically announced to address the urgent need for essential service workers to help manage the pandemic. Under this program, 90,000 temporary workers were to be admitted. The criteria was that candidates needed to have a firm job offer in hand, and meet basic language requirements, and should apply before November 5, or until the intake caps were reached. Even though the cap for the international graduate stream was filled in a record of 25 hours from the time of the announcement, the non-healthcare workers stream filled up in 60 days, less than half the target healthcare worker requirements were met – only 7155 applications against a requirement of 20,000.
Need for better coordination between Employers and Government Agencies:
The study also emphasized the need to make essential work more attractive with better compensation and benefits. The current situation is the result of rewarding higher qualifications only. Essential services, which are basically more labor-intensive need to be brought at par to become attractive careers options. The study also called for closer and more coordination between employers and the government to ensure that temporary workers are protected against exploitation and are not vulnerable due to the requirement that ties them to one particular employer. Federal and Provincial authorities need to engage more and supervise that the employers are not only complying with the Canadian Labour Standards but are also providing for the welfare and well-being of the temporary worker assigned to them.
Recognition of Existing Credentials:
The study identified the lack of recognition of existing credentials of immigrant workers for the prevalence of the problem of over-qualification. While not easy to implement, the study points to the need to simplify the process of recognition of overseas qualifications which is currently long drawn out, expensive and complex. Employers and industry also need to work towards making the system more transparent and not dependent on individual perceptions.
The study makes the telling observation that “Bias and discrimination in hiring continue to push some immigrants to easy-to-access essential jobs that don’t leverage their full set of skills… The government needs a coordinated response to this intricate web of challenges that requires close collaboration with employers, regulators, and other relevant bodies.”
Need for better Data Mining:
The study of the Conference Board recommends that the government needs to analyze the International Mobility Program (IMP) and study its’ economic impact. The IMP was essentially created to address Canada’s broad economic, social, and political objectives. Unlike the Temporary Foreign Worker Program, it does not require employers to do a Labour Market Impact Assessment (LMIA), which it should do.
The study also lists the limited public data on which temporary resident groups are coming through the IMP, and which sectors they work in, as a major cause of the current gap. It calls for better data mining which could help researchers understand if essential sectors are relying on IMP work permits.
And understand the implications of increasing employer reliance on the IMP- both in terms of access to labor and employment outcomes of immigrants. “The absence of a labor market impact assessment in IMP could underestimate the impact of hiring a temporary worker on the local job market, potentially intensifying job competition,” the study observes.
The government needs to adopt a data-driven intersectional policy lens to address bias and discrimination in the labor market. “This starts with collecting data on multiple facets of the identities of the workforce, such as race, gender, and immigration status, and linking it to employment outcomes,” Dinc the author of the study says writes.
The study says this would help researchers understand which groups work in which occupations and sectors, under what conditions, through which immigration pathways, and where the change is needed. These efforts could help inform immigration policy, and targeted policies for sectors and occupations.
Allow Greater Mobility:
The study lists the need for allowing mobility to temporary workers, especially those engaged in essential services – this is critical as the opportunities for career advancement are limited due to the very nature of the job. It also points to the need of charting a well-defined career growth path if it is to be made attractive to domestic workers. A path of reskilling and upskilling for improvement of earning capacity is a must to avoid fatigue and disenchantment. “This might initially seem counterintuitive for retention,” the study says. “However, combined with measures to improve job quality and bring immigrants with the right skill sets, it will ultimately contribute to higher levels of attraction and overall a more fair and sustainable talent pipeline”, the study concludes. source: cic news
