The newly arrived immigrants in Canada have had better employment opportunities since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. The employment rate hit 70.4 percent in August 2021, which is 6.1 percent more than in the same month in 2019 before the pandemic.
Immigration programs to Canada
Most of these immigrants come to Canada through the following economic immigration programs:
All these programs have enhanced employment opportunities.
Global Talent Stream
Immigrants migrating through the Global Talent Stream (GTS) of the Temporary Foreign Worker Program (TFWP), in which Canadian work permits and visa applications are processed within two weeks in order to fulfill the labor market needs.
But the immigration levels have drastically decreased due to the closure of borders during the pandemic. The Canadian economy is successfully roaring back to life and offering many job opportunities in most of the sectors and abundantly in the healthcare and construction sector.
Job opportunities are blooming for immigrants in Canada
The employment opportunities are hiking for migrants who want to immigrate to Canada.
According to the statistics, “employment rose by 90,000, up 0.5 percent, in August, the third consecutive monthly increase whereas in 2020 the employment rate was down by 0.8 percent."
The opportunities are more encouraging, and the new jobs are primarily full-time. In August 2021, Canada added 69,000 more full-time jobs, and the employment rate has increased 0.4 percent.
The sectors showing the majority growth were:
Hotels
Motels
Restaurants
where there is currently a massive labor shortage in Canada.
Restaurant sector showed unprecedented growth
As per the latest survey, restaurants in Canada showed an 80 percent increase in job opportunities. In fact, restaurateurs are having trouble hiring kitchen staff, and 67 percent are having difficulty finding servers and staff to serve tables.
It’s unprecedented times out there,” says Luc Erjavec, Restaurants Canada’s vice president for Atlantic Canada. “I’ve heard of restaurants changing their hours, closing earlier … The staff they have is burning out.”
Opportunities in the construction sector
The construction sector is also hiring many foreign nationals as it also has several jobs. The number of jobs increased by 20,000, or 1.4 percent, in August alone, and that’s the first time since March that sector has seen job growth. The paucity of people to work construction was so serious in June that contractors turned away from work due to a lack of employees.
“We work our whole lives to be at this point and now we have got to say no,” Jonathan Denton, owner of Little John’s Renovations in Moncton, reportedly told Global News.
New Brunswick Business Groups Urge Increased Canada Immigration
In August 2021, six business groups gathered at Malley Industries in the bilingual province to discuss their policy priorities for the next federal government.
These six business groups include: