Canada is facing major labour shortages. The unemployment-to-job opportunity ratio is at its all-time low. The country is in search of more labour which is why the Canadian government has announced the Recognised Employer Pilot. It will be launched in September and will operate under the Temporary Foreign Worker Program (TFWP).Â
According to reports, this is being done to slacken the administrative burden for repeat employers. Eligible employers will be subjected to Labour Market Impact Assessment (LMIA) under the program. These assessments will be valid for up to 36 months. An employer is required to take this test in order to recruit a foreign national under the TFWP.
Application Steps
The government has ordained three crucial steps which will help the employer to become cognizant of his staffing needs while keeping the recruitment of foreign nationals to a minimum. Moreover, these will also aid in reducing the number of application submissions for the program for the next three years. The three steps are as follows:
- To become an eligible employer, a minimum of three positive LMIAs over the past five years is a necessity. This should be in the same occupation that has been listed on the Canadian Occupational Projection System, where labour shortage has been reported.
- Employers will be required to go through a rigorous and fair assessment process which will be based on their history with the Temporary Foreign Worker Program. This is to ensure Recognized Employer Pilot targets companies who have the best selection procedure.
- It is essential for employers to take the LMIA test to prove that there were no workers available in Canada to do the job for which he is recruiting.
The Pilot program will unfold in two phases. The first phase will begin in September 2024 in which primary agriculture employers will start applying. The second phase will commence in January next year wherein all other employers will be eligible to apply.
All employer applications for REP will conclude in September 2024. The Canadian government has assured that eligible employers can expect a simplified application process for LMIA applicants in the coming times.
Minimal point of contact between participating employers and the Department of Employment and Social Development can be expected during the Pilot. The government said that this is due to simplified LMIA forms that will enable employers to hire additional temporary foreign workers.
Canada on a Hunt for Skilled Labour
According to a source, the aggregate number of job vacancies in Canada was about 942,000 in 2022. The number has increased by two and a half times when compared to 2016. The country has reported a shortage of skilled labour in various sectors such as health care, trade, and food services.
“There’s a traffic jam of employers looking to hire,” said Brendon Bernard, a senior economist at Indeed, which is a job search website. The statistics say that nearly 200,000 jobs in Canada require less than one year of work experience. This implies that labour shortages in low-skilled professions are equally widespread. Another source says that nearly two-thirds of the jobs are in the sales and services sector alone.Â
As a result of labour shortage, current employees are made to overwork, without a wage increase or providing other perks. Immigration and hiring temporary foreign nationals as workers have been suggested as the solution to Canada’s labour problem.
