Canada is make it easy Quebec’s latest effort to ease the country’s most acute labor shortage is for employers to hire temporary foreign workers in key industries such as food and health care.
Starting Monday, temporary workers outside Canada can make up up to 20% of the workforce for low-paying positions in some areas, up from 10% previously, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government said in a news release. The measure is part of a pilot project announced in August that Also reduces some recruitment requirements,
The move won praise from the Canadian Federation of Independent Business, which in November conducted a survey of small firms, showing Quebec as the province most affected by labor shortages.
While the approval of permission to bring in workers takes time, it is still “a huge improvement”, Francois Vincent, Quebec vice president of the business lobby group, said in an interview. “Temporary foreign workers are one of the solutions.”
With Quebec unemployment at 4.6% last month and 73% of job vacancies over two years, the provincial government has made the job market a priority for 2022. In November’s budget update, it pledged $3 billion ($2.4 billion) over five years to help train or attract workers in critical sectors.
Like firms in North America, Quebec companies have had a hard time filling low-paying jobs after the economy emerged from pandemic lockdowns. But the province’s plight, which predates the crisis, is also shaped by an aging demographics, a tougher approach to immigration and a skills mismatch.
The number of working-age Quebec residents grew by just 120,000 between 2010 and 2020, down 60% from the previous decade, and is set to decline by nearly 100,000 between 2020 and 2030, according to the Institut du Québec According to a November study. economic think tank.
Compared to other Canadian provinces, aging workers leave the workforce faster in Quebec. The participation rate for Quebecers between the ages of 60 and 64 was 54% in 2021, up from 60% in Ontario and the national average of 58%.
The government is hanging on to financial incentives to keep older employees on the job longer. It is also offering scholarships of up to C$20,000 to entice students to pursue information technology, engineering or nursing programs.
While Premier François Legault’s government initially downplayed the number of immigrants, it tempered its approach and vowed to do better, recognizing the degree and skill of the newcomers, long among the province’s weaknesses. One.
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