FIRST READING: Ottawa sets target to keep Canada labour force 25 per cent immigrant
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With Canada in the midst of a labour crunch, the Government of Canada has unveiled new targets to keep one-quarter of the the country's labour force filled by immigrants.
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The figure is contained in a new departmental plan released last Friday by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada.
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In a section entitled 'percentage of the Canadian labour force that is made up of immigrants and refugees,' the document indicates that the target is '≥ 25%.'
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Although the target is a reduction from the extreme highs charted in the immediate aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic (when the figure hit 29 per cent), it still fixes Canada to a labour market comprised of historically high rates of immigrant and refugee workers.
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As recently as 2011, the share of foreign-born workers in the Canadian labour force was 22.6 per cent, according to Labour Force Survey data compiled by the Bank of Canada. In 2006, it was 21.5 per cent.
It's also significantly higher than the United States, which retains an immigrant labour force more in line with the Canada of 20 years ago. As of the most recent figures released by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 'the foreign born accounted for 19.2 percent of the U.S. civilian labor force.'
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The new targets occur against a relatively stagnant Canadian employment market where job growth has struggled for months to keep pace with high population growth.
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In Statistics Canada's most recent Labour Force Survey, the country added 8,800 jobs in the month of May. But since it added about as many workers, the unemployment rate actually went slightly up by 0.1 per cent.
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'Overall, there has been virtually no employment growth since January,' it reads.
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According to November research by King's Trust Canada, the rise in youth unemployment has occurred in tandem with a massive increase in low-skilled positions being filled by temporary foreign workers.
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Between 2016 and 2023, the report found that the rate of TFWs working in restaurants increased by 634 per cent, while those working in the retail sector increased by 456 per cent.
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Since October, the Liberal government has been open about its intention to bring down Canadian immigration, with Prime Minister Mark Carney promising in a May 21 mandate letter to bring 'overall immigration rates to sustainable levels.'
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