Image via Wikipedia By Ian Shelton, Times Colonist June 18, 2010
Robert Cui was happily shocked last July. After two years of scraping by in Victoria, two years of weighing the value of going to a meeting or ponying up $2.25 for bus fare, the single father from northern China was a security check away from a post with the Department of National Defence.
"I just couldn't believe it. I didn't believe I could get anything from the federal government," Cui said, pointing to eight fruitless interviews with provincial departments.
The elation was short-lived. Not yet a Canadian citizen, Cui was not eligible for the job.
Cui was crushed but took the bad news in stride.
"Sometimes it's just about how to accept reality."
Cui's disappointment is common among recent immigrants. But a looming labour shortage and dwindling numbers of skilled workers immigrating to B.C. mean the province will be forced to share in his troubles.
In the next decade, B.C. will depend on immigrants to fill about one in three job openings, according to the recently released British Columbia Labour Market Outlook: 2009-2019. At the same time, the number of skilled workers immigrating to the province appears to have hit a 15-year low.
About 15,100 skilled workers settled in the province last year, based on B.C. Stats numbers and provincial government targets. It's the lowest total since 1994.
These numbers include federal skilled worker program immigrants -- 12,081 for 2009 -- and provincial nominee program numbers -- a target of 3,000 for fiscal 2009-10 -- as well as actual numbers for a mix of previous fiscal and calendar years.
The problem has not gone unnoticed in the provincial government.
"Immigration is the key to future economic growth in B.C.," Moira Stilwell, the minister in charge of labour market development said by e-mail. "Even though the economy has slowed down, skilled labour shortages remain."
Until a decade ago, engineers, accountants and other immigrants selected for their skills arrived under the federal skilled worker program. Since then, the B.C. government has expanded its provincial nominee program, which fast-tracks applications for people with skills in short supply locally.
The program took in 2,500 skilled workers in 2008, with about 3,000 expected during the last fiscal year and more than twice that number hoped for by 2012.
During the same time, though, the federal program has dwindled, delivering half the number of skilled immigrants to the province last year as it did at its peak, more than a decade ago.
To some extent, the program is a victim of its own success -- attracting a glut of immigrants that settlement services were ill-prepared to absorb.
Annie Shum, a counsellor with the Victoria Immigrant and Refugee Centre, said the problems of credential recognition, language barriers and a lack of North American experience continue to plague her customers.
Shum heads up the centre's Skills Connect program, a provincial initiative that supports skilled immigrants hunting for work. She said that the challenges immigrants face are often hard to predict.
"I just couldn't believe it. I didn't believe I could get anything from the federal government," Cui said, pointing to eight fruitless interviews with provincial departments.
The elation was short-lived. Not yet a Canadian citizen, Cui was not eligible for the job.
Cui was crushed but took the bad news in stride.
"Sometimes it's just about how to accept reality."
Cui's disappointment is common among recent immigrants. But a looming labour shortage and dwindling numbers of skilled workers immigrating to B.C. mean the province will be forced to share in his troubles.
In the next decade, B.C. will depend on immigrants to fill about one in three job openings, according to the recently released British Columbia Labour Market Outlook: 2009-2019. At the same time, the number of skilled workers immigrating to the province appears to have hit a 15-year low.
About 15,100 skilled workers settled in the province last year, based on B.C. Stats numbers and provincial government targets. It's the lowest total since 1994.
These numbers include federal skilled worker program immigrants -- 12,081 for 2009 -- and provincial nominee program numbers -- a target of 3,000 for fiscal 2009-10 -- as well as actual numbers for a mix of previous fiscal and calendar years.
The problem has not gone unnoticed in the provincial government.
"Immigration is the key to future economic growth in B.C.," Moira Stilwell, the minister in charge of labour market development said by e-mail. "Even though the economy has slowed down, skilled labour shortages remain."
Until a decade ago, engineers, accountants and other immigrants selected for their skills arrived under the federal skilled worker program. Since then, the B.C. government has expanded its provincial nominee program, which fast-tracks applications for people with skills in short supply locally.
The program took in 2,500 skilled workers in 2008, with about 3,000 expected during the last fiscal year and more than twice that number hoped for by 2012.
During the same time, though, the federal program has dwindled, delivering half the number of skilled immigrants to the province last year as it did at its peak, more than a decade ago.
To some extent, the program is a victim of its own success -- attracting a glut of immigrants that settlement services were ill-prepared to absorb.
Annie Shum, a counsellor with the Victoria Immigrant and Refugee Centre, said the problems of credential recognition, language barriers and a lack of North American experience continue to plague her customers.
Shum heads up the centre's Skills Connect program, a provincial initiative that supports skilled immigrants hunting for work. She said that the challenges immigrants face are often hard to predict.
"I know of one client who is an engineer. She comes from a country where they're at war right now so it's impossible to get her credentials from the university," said Shum.
Stilwell said some studies place the outflow of immigrants to other provinces and countries at as high as one in three, though B.C. gains more immigrants from other provinces than it loses.
"Regardless of the actual figures, the loss of immigrants ... is a matter of concern to B.C. as it represents not just a loss of human capital to the province, but a missed opportunity for both the province and the immigrant."
For Cui, the pressures of migration took a personal toll. The loneliness and relative poverty that accompanied the move to Canada strained his marriage to the breaking point. His wife returned home two years ago, leaving Cui with his son Bob, now six years old.
He said he doesn't fault Bob's mother. He said he accepted her choice and has moved forward.
Last week, he found work at a large electronics manufacturer, Schneider Electric in Saanich, which produces sensors for power systems. More secure than he's been in a long time, Cui said he never doubted his choice to migrate.
"Whatever happens, I got my son here," he said.
"I win."
Stilwell said some studies place the outflow of immigrants to other provinces and countries at as high as one in three, though B.C. gains more immigrants from other provinces than it loses.
"Regardless of the actual figures, the loss of immigrants ... is a matter of concern to B.C. as it represents not just a loss of human capital to the province, but a missed opportunity for both the province and the immigrant."
For Cui, the pressures of migration took a personal toll. The loneliness and relative poverty that accompanied the move to Canada strained his marriage to the breaking point. His wife returned home two years ago, leaving Cui with his son Bob, now six years old.
He said he doesn't fault Bob's mother. He said he accepted her choice and has moved forward.
Last week, he found work at a large electronics manufacturer, Schneider Electric in Saanich, which produces sensors for power systems. More secure than he's been in a long time, Cui said he never doubted his choice to migrate.
"Whatever happens, I got my son here," he said.
"I win."
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