Quebec has the highest need for new workers.
According to Statistics Canada’s payroll, employment, and job vacancies report, Quebec has the highest job vacancy rates among all the provinces in May at 5.1%. British Colombia came in a close second at 5%, and New Brunswick came next at 4.9%. Newfoundland and Labrador had the lowest job vacancy rate at 2.8 percent respectively.
As restrictions were further eased in June, The Labour Force Survey reported employment opportunities in accommodation and food services grew by 12% from May to June.
Canada will turn to immigrants to counter labour shortages.
A report by RBC, one of Canada’s largest banks, suggests the government will need to turn to immigrants to support the worsening labour shortages. Not only to fill the void in positions Canadians no longer want to work in, but to counter retirements delayed by the pandemic and those who’ll quit their job in the coming months due to dissatisfaction.
In a recent article, economist Andrew Agopsowicz wrote that, during the pandemic, the number of retirements and people quitting their jobs due to dissatisfaction dropped significantly. This could primarily be to the fear of losing a source of income, considerably as sole breadwinners in the household rose. For instance, a partner losing their job or laid off adult children returning home to live with their parents.
However, now that the economy is recovering, job quitters are returning to pre-pandemic levels. In addition, retirements delayed by the pandemic could also pick up in the second half of 2021. These factors could exacerbate labour shortages throughout the summer and fall.
Close to 400 000 new workers needed over the following year.
Despite record-breaking immigration targets to fill employment needs, Canada has been admitting newcomers at a slower rate in the first few months of the year. Although, intake picked up in June when Canada welcomed about 35,000 new permanent residents into the workforce.
While July figures are not yet released, the easing of travel restrictions globally and the opening of the Canada border to approved permanent residents could help increase these numbers. As a result, although the federal government’s immigration target is 401,000 this year, they will need to admit about 43,000 new immigrants per month from July onward to achieve this goal.
