Immigration Canada

More skilled immigrants needed to boost economy: study

BY CARMEN CHAI, POSTMEDIA NEWS

OTTAWA — The federal government should focus on increasing the number of skilled immigrants and refugees to boost the Canadian economy, a policy report recommends.

On Tuesday, the Institute for Research on Public Policy released a report showing that these two immigrant groups do better economically than any other immigrant cohort entering the country.

Report authors Michael Abbott and Charles Beach say officials should consider reducing total immigrant admission levels during recessions, when Canada is hit with high unemployment periods, because immigrants are first to lose their jobs.

The study was released days after the government said it plans to accept as many as 10,000 more skilled workers into the country in 2012, in part to help deal with a massive backlog in applications.

Researchers at IRPP, a non-partisan think-tank based in Montreal, studied the 10-year annual incomes of three cohorts of four immigrants groups who arrived as permanent residents in 1982, 1988 and 1994.

Immigrants entering Canada are classified under the categories of: refugee, family-class (part of family re-unification) and economic — meaning skilled workers.

"Skill-assessed immigrants, people who go through the point system, consistently do better in terms of higher earning levels than other arriving immigrants . . . 35 per cent better for men and 56 per cent for women," said Beach.

"Refugees had the highest earning growth rates again for both men and women across all entry groups . . . 29 per cent for men and 35 per cent for women," he adds.

"Refugees may start low and have low earnings initially, but their earnings grow faster than other groups," said Beach.

Women in the family class had the lowest earnings.

Recessions, the report found, hit the wages of all groups of immigrants.

Immigration has steadily climbed in the past few decades in Canada — about 84,000 people came to this country in 1985, and immigration hit a 50-year high of 281,000 people in 2010, according to Citizenship and Immigration Canada.

But changes to Canada's immigration policy in recent years could be detrimental to the country's economy and competitiveness, the report said.

Officials have narrowed their focus, the report said, to acquiring a specific group of skilled workers — there are 29 priority occupations — and placed a cap on how many of these people enter the country.

In June 2010, Citizenship and Immigration introduced a global cap of 20,000 people who would be accepted under federal skilled-worker applications, along with a 1,000-person cap on the number of applicants accepted in each occupation.

By July of this year, only 10,000 skilled applicants without an offer of employment in Canada were admitted to the country under the Federal Skilled Worker Program but the number of arrivals under the Provincial Nominee Program and the Temporary Foreign Worker Program — neither of which is skills-assessed — continued to climb.

"There has been a huge growth in the Provincial Nominee Program — while that does a better job of getting people to regions and provinces and so on, the fact is, more than half of those people who come in are roughly low-skilled and the point of our study means, on average, they don't do as well as people with more skills," said Beach.

They urge the federal government to consider tactics European countries have taken in an attempt to sway skilled immigrants to their countries, and noted that countries such as China and India, which are experiencing vast economic growth, are retaining their own skilled workers and even repatriating those who emigrated to Canada.

"In light of this increasing global competition, Canada cannot afford to be complacent in seeking to attract and retain skilled workers. Yet there has not been a major rethink of Canada's immigration objectives and policy since the mid-1990s," the report warned.

The report's data show that within all three cohorts, there is a wide gap between independent skilled workers' earnings and refugees and family-class workers. Other economic-class workers still ranked second to independent economic-class workers by a margin of as much as $10,000 each year.

For example, in 1982, independent skilled workers made a 10-year average of $46,093 each year, while other economic class workers made just more than $28,000. Family-class workers made an average of $27,643 and refugees, the group that saw the highest growth in salary in every cohort, made $20,525.

The authors say their evidence shows it's "remarkably clear and uniform" that skilled workers easily made the most contribution to the country's labour market.

But they concede their data doesn't necessarily show that increased incomes are linked to higher education or skills levels.

The authors recommend maintaining and even expanding skills-focused initiatives, such as the Canadian Experience Class, instead of scaling down efforts to attract immigrant candidates that could adapt to the workforce.

Wait times for applications, recognizing foreign credentials and modifying the current points system so it examines youth, official language fluency and skilled-trades needs are also areas officials need to improve, the report noted.

With files from Amy Chung

cchai(at)postmedia.com

Twitter.com/Carmen_Chai

Harper Government Helps Internationally Trained Accountants Get Jobs

TORONTO, ONTARIO, Nov 09, 2011 (MARKETWIRE via COMTEX) -- The Honourable Diane Finley, Minister of Human Resources and Skills Development, today announced a Government of Canada investment to help internationally trained accountants get jobs in Canada faster. The Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants (CICA) received $1.4 million to streamline the application process for accountants educated in other countries.

"Our government is helping newcomers find meaningful work that contributes to Canada's long-term growth, competitiveness and overall prosperity." said Minister Finley. "Through Canada's Economic Action Plan, we are working with partners to improve foreign credential recognition so that newcomers can put their skills and experience to work sooner."

With this government investment, the Institute will create an online assessment tool that will validate foreign education and work experience. It will also establish customized bridging programs to help these accountants complete any additional courses and examinations required to become a chartered accountant in Canada.

"Skilled professionals are vital to Canada's future," said Kevin Dancey, President and Chief Executive Officer, CICA. "We welcome the federal government's commitment to helping internationally trained professions contribute to their full potential as quickly as possible."

Under the Pan-Canadian Framework for the Assessment and Recognition of Foreign Qualifications, the Government of Canada is working with the provinces and territories, as well as other partners such as regulatory bodies, to address barriers to foreign credential recognition.

In 2010, service standards were established so that internationally trained professionals in eight priority occupations, including accountants and engineers, can have their qualifications assessed within one year, anywhere in Canada. This is one example of progress toward a more fair, transparent and timely system for foreign credential recognition across Canada.

This year, the Government started improving foreign qualification recognition for six more target occupations, including physicians and dentists.

Additionally, Budget 2011 announced that Human Resources and Skills Development Canada and Citizenship and Immigration Canada will test ways to help internationally trained professionals cover costs associated with the foreign credential recognition process, with specific details to be announced shortly. This initiative will complement the already significant investments the Government of Canada has made to support the labour market integration of newcomers to Canada.

The demographic tsunami will hit Atlantic Canada first

DAVID CAMPBELL

Globe and Mail Blog

In his column on November 5, Jeffrey Simpson did a good job of explaining the looming impact of the aging population in Canada and how it will eventually impact public services.

What he didn’t say is this demographic tsunami is hitting Atlantic Canada first and this region has far less capacity to address it than the rest of Canada.

In 1971, the median age of the population in Atlantic Canada was less than the national average. Alberta had an older population compared to all four Atlantic Provinces. After decades of people “goin’ down the road” and very little immigration, Atlantic Canada is now much older than the rest of Canada.

In 2010, the median age of the population in Atlantic Canada was a full seven years older than in Alberta.

In 1971, there were 3.5 people under the age of 20 in New Brunswick for every person over the age of 60. By 2010, there are now more people over the age of 60 than under the age of 20. In Newfoundland and Labrador, the total population under the age of 20 has dropped by 58 per cent since 1971 while it has increased by 35 per cent in Alberta.

This is a profound demographic shift. In the 1970s, Atlantic Canada’s economy was too weak to absorb all of the young people coming into the work force. Now there are not enough young people just to replace those heading into retirement.

This demographic reality has prompted Nova Scotia politicians to call for federal health transfer payments to be adjusted to provide more funding to ‘older’ provinces much the same way education-related transfer payments were adjusted in the previous decade to favour provinces with younger populations. However, pundits and think tanks west of the St. Lawrence were quick to condemn these callous calls for more western dollars to flow east.

Increasing health care costs are only one of many challenges brought on by the demographic tsunami. An aging population cuts into the capacity of government to generate revenue. According to Statistics Canada, the average taxpayer in New Brunswick aged 65 and older contributes 46 per cent less income tax revenue than the average taxpayer in the 45 to 54 years age cohort.

In addition, the aging population is leading to work force shortages in many communities around the region. Employers are struggling to fill jobs and putting off new investment.

The implications of the Atlantic Canada demographic tsunami will be felt in the rest of the country. No longer will this region be able to play the role of labour market incubator for the more successful provinces. In addition, if the region is unable to raise enough tax revenue the federal government will be compelled to increase transfer payments.

There are solutions. There is opportunity to get more out of the current labour market. Other than Prince Edward Island, the other three Atlantic Provinces have the lowest employment rates in the country among the 50+ population. Over the longer term, the region must attract and retain far more young immigrants. Our companies need to address work force challenges by being more productive and governments need to be more innovative in the delivery of public services.

Other parts of Canada have a track record of addressing demographic challenges. In the mid 1990s, economist David Foot warned that Ontario would run out of working age population and the province promptly responded by bringing in the largest wave of immigrants in history.

It’s time for Atlantic Canada to tackle this issue head on.

For more statistics on the regional differences in demographic trends in Atlantic Canada, visit my blog: It’s the Economy, Stupid.

David Campbell is an economic development consultant and columnist based in Moncton, New Brunswick. His daily blog on economic issues in Atlantic Canada can be found at www.davidwcampbell.com.

Canada’s looming fiscal squeeze

EDITOR’S NOTE: The following is an edited version of the executive summary from the Macdonald-Laurier Institute’s recently released study, Canada’s Looming Fiscal Squeeze, by Christopher Ragan.

MONTREAL, QC, Nov. 8, 2011/Troy Media/ – Macdonald-Laurier’s report, Canada’s Looming Fiscal Squeeze, assembles a collection of increasingly familiar demographic projections and draws the not-so-familiar implications for the fiscal challenges to be faced by future Canadian governments.

It emphasizes the rising share of national income that will need to be devoted to publicly provided healthcare and seniors’ benefits, resulting in an increase in public debt if future governments do not adjust their spending programs or tax rates. In order to avoid a return to the high-debt situation of the mid 1990s, Canadians and their governments must soon begin thinking in a systematic and critical way about their long-term fiscal priorities.

Baby boom to baby bust

During the baby boom that followed the Second World War, the average fertility rate in Canada was 3.6 children per woman. Partly due to the increase in women participating in the Canadian labour force, Canada’s fertility rate dropped to 1.7 children per women by 2007. This change in the fertility rate is expected to continue to slow the population growth rate. Thanks to healthier lifestyles and improved technology, the average life expectancy of a Canadian has risen from 68.5 years in 1951 to 80.5 years in 2006. The combination of fewer younger people entering the population and the current population living longer will act together to increase the average Canadian’s age over the next few decades.

The aging of the baby boom resulted in a significant increase in the working-age share of the population, from 58 per cent in 1962 to about 69 per cent in the early 1980s. The youngest baby boomers came of age in the early 1980s, and in the subsequent three decades there were no significant changes in the working-age share of the population. But the oldest baby boomers reached 65 in 2011, and so for the next 20 years there will be an inexorable decline in the working-age share of the population, a decline that roughly mirrors the increase from 30 years earlier.

With the ongoing aging of Canada’s baby-boom generation, a growing fraction of the population will fall into these older age categories, thus reducing the economy’s overall labour force participation rate. The overall participation rate is projected to decline from over 67 per cent today to below 61 per cent by 2040, even with the assumption that age-specific participation rates increase by up to four percentage points between now and 2030, and remain constant thereafter.

The falling labour force participation rate will cause a decline in the future growth rate of average living standards, as measured by real per capita Gross Domestic Product (GDP) This leads to two policy conclusions:

1) Productivity growth is likely to account for more than 100 per cent of growth in real per capita GDP over the next few decades, meaning that Canadians and their governments must take seriously the issue of increasing productivity.

2) The reduction in the labour force participation rate, taken by itself, will reduce the growth rate of real per capita GDP (for any assumed productivity growth rate) and thus reduce the growth rate of Canadian governments’ per capita tax base.

The aging of the Canadian population will force Canadian governments to face a significant two-part fiscal challenge:

1) It will lead to a slowing of national income, the primary tax base for governments, thus slowing tax revenues.

2) Key Canadian public spending programs will become more costly as a share of GDP, especially those providing healthcare and income support for the elderly, even as the tax base slows considerably.

This fiscal challenge will likely create political tensions between provincial and federal governments and will force governments at all levels to make some difficult fiscal decisions.

As spending demands rise faster than tax revenues, future Canadian governments will be faced with three broad choices:

1) They can attempt to reduce the growth rate of overall spending.

2) They can attempt to increase the growth rate of revenues through increases in tax rates, or

3) They can choose to increase their public borrowing.

Of course, the third option is not a permanent solution since the debt eventually needs to be repaid and such repayment ultimately requires a command over resources, which in turn requires either spending reductions or increases in tax revenues. In the hypothetical situation in which future governments choose to not make any adjustments in spending or taxation but merely increase borrowing, the cumulative borrowing is expected to equal 52.5 percentage points of GDP over 25 years.

Hitting the debt wall

The net public debt-to-GDP ratio was approximately 92 per cent in 1996, and Canada was then seen by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and others as having a serious fiscal problem. The failure to tackle the problem would have meant hitting the “debt wall”, with implications for declining access to global capital markets and rising domestic interest rates, just as we are now seeing in some European countries. But the federal and provincial governments embarked on programs of significant fiscal consolidation. which quickly turned large annual budget deficits into modest budget surpluses. These, combined with a healthy economic recovery, produced a rapidly declining debt-to-GDP ratio.

By the beginning of the 2008/09 financial crisis, the overall debt ratio was 37 per cent of GDP and, as of the fall of 2011, it appears that most Canadian governments are on paths back to budget balance.

To avoid a future “debt wall”, this report examines five non-fiscal solutions to Canada’s looming fiscal squeeze: increasing the immigration rate, increasing the retirement age, increasing the fertility rate, restraining the growth of healthcare spending, and increasing the growth rate of productivity.

Immigrants, of course, also age over time, which leads to eventual lower labour force population and higher demands on public programs, and the immigration rate would have to at least double in order to merely continue the 2008 rate of growth of the Canadian labour force. This is politically unfeasible.

And even an aggressive increase in the retirement age could not offset the impact of the large numbers of aging baby-boomers, who will inevitably drop out of the labour force and continue to require more health care.

As for the fertility rate, it could likely not be raised from the current level of 1.7 children per woman to a level that would make a significant difference, and the programs required to marginally increase fertility would be prohibitively expensive.

Restraining the growth of health care spending, however, may be possible but, given the magnitude of the underlying demographic forces, Canadian governments must recognize that even in an optimistic view of the future there will be a significant increase in the share of national income devoted to public healthcare spending.

Finally, faster productivity growth cannot be engineered by policy and would only help to lessen the fiscal squeeze if policy actions could somehow prevent the faster income growth from creating a similar expansion in the number or generosity of public spending programs.

An inconvenient truth

The inconvenient truth that Canadians and their governments must face is that the demographic forces in play and the fiscal implications that follow are so large that governments will need to respond by making fundamental adjustments to their fiscal frameworks. As is always the case, the simple arithmetic of government budgets implies that there are only two broad fiscal choices available to address the coming fiscal squeeze: spending programs can be reduced or eliminated or taxes can be increased. There is nothing else.

Government spending can be restrained in many ways, with some programs being reduced in scope while others are eliminated altogether. But such cuts are politically very difficult; one needs only to glance at the highly-charged political debates going on in the United States and Europe to be reminded about how unpopular it is to consider reductions in public spending, especially if the cuts fall on important social programs.

Governments also have many choices when it comes to raising tax revenues, including personal and corporate income taxes, expenditure and sales taxes, and product-specific excise taxes. Apart from the general unpopularity of higher taxes, an important choice would need to be made concerning which taxes would be raised and by how much.

Since government debt is often incurred to provide current goods and services, but is serviced and repaid in the distant future, public debt usually involves a redistribution of income away from future generations toward current generations. In general, the more the policy changes are delayed through time, the more debt will be incurred before those adjustments take place and thus the more the burden of the fiscal adjustment will ultimately fall on Canadians who are currently young.

Conversely, the more immediate are the changes in spending and taxation, the less debt will be incurred and thus the more the overall burden of adjustment will fall on the same baby boomers whose aging is the fundamental cause of the looming fiscal squeeze. Which generation pays for the rising age-related expenditures of the baby boomers will be determined by the fiscal policy choices Canadian governments make in the coming years.

The government machine built over the past half-century was constructed during a time when the demographic forces were very advantageous: a young and fast-growing population. The implications were rapidly advancing living standards and the ability to easily fund many government programs. But as the oldest baby boomers reach 65 this year, and these demographic forces move into reverse for the next three decades, there will be a need to adjust this machine of government.

The adjustment can occur primarily on the spending side or primarily on the revenue side – or indeed can occur on both. But some adjustment will be necessary. There will be a Canadian tendency for this debate about overall fiscal priorities to become focused on the division of fiscal capacity between different levels of government. But a focus on the “fiscal imbalance” rather than the more general “fiscal squeeze” should be avoided, as it will both cloud the central issues and needlessly politicize a debate that will in any event be fraught with difficult decisions. Canadians and their governments at all levels need to recognize that addressing Canada’s looming fiscal squeeze will require a careful and transparent examination of our fiscal priorities.

Christopher Ragan is a professor of economics at McGill University.

Source: http://www.troymedia.com

Ottawa to target ‘marriages of convenience’

Raveena AulakhStaff Reporter

In a crackdown on fraudulent marriages, the Canadian government is proposing a period of conditional permanent residence requiring a sponsored spouse stay in a “bona fide” relationship with their sponsor, possibly for two or more years.

Another proposal would prevent a person who has been sponsored as a spouse from sponsoring a new partner for five years.

(In 2009, nearly 45,000 people immigrated to Canada as spouses. Citizenship and Immigration Canada says 1,000 fraudulent marriages are reported annually. Many others go unreported.)

Those who claim to be victims of marriage fraud welcome the proposed changes.

But social workers say it’s a step backward and will hold some women hostage.

“It’s like going back in time,” says Avvy Go, director of the Metro Toronto Chinese and Southeast Asian Legal Clinic, referring to a former law whereby fiancés had to get married within 90 days after entering Canada or face deportation.

That law was eliminated in 2002, says Go. “Now instead of 90 days, it’s a two-year trial period that the government is proposing.”

It will be lethal for women, says Go. “Domestic abuse is a big problem and if these women speak up against it, they could get deported.”

In a recent case, a woman who married in March 2010 in India says she was physically and sexually assaulted by her husband within days of landing in Toronto last January. She endured the abuse until August when her husband’s family told her they would throw her out if she didn’t get $20,000 from her parents in New Delhi.

“I couldn’t ask them for money ... and I knew the beatings would get worse,” she says. She left her husband’s home in the summer and now rents a room in a Mississauga basement, is getting a driver’s licence and looking for work.

If Ottawa’s proposed changes had been in effect, she says she would still be with her husband in that house.

“And I could have done nothing.”

Source: Toronto news.

Canada Plans to Admit More Provincial Nominees in 2012

OTTAWA, ONTARIO, Nov 07, 2011 (MARKETWIRE via COMTEX) -- The Government of Canada will continue to provide provinces and territories with a record amount of space in the country's immigration program in 2012, Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism Minister Jason Kenney announced today.

Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) plans to welcome 42,000 to 45,000 people under the Provincial Nominee Program (PNP) in 2012, including the nominees themselves, their spouses and dependents. This represents an almost seven-fold increase since 2004.

In 2010, over 36,000 people entered Canada under the PNP. CIC is on track to welcome more provincial nominees this year, and 2012 has the potential to set another record high if the provinces submit enough nominations early on to fill their allotted space in the program.

"The Government of Canada recognizes the crucial role the Provincial Nominee Program plays in meeting local labour market needs," said Minister Kenney. "The PNP has made great strides in sharing the benefits of economic immigration across the country." Today, 26 percent of all economic immigrants are now destined for provinces other than Ontario, British Columbia and Quebec, compared to 11 percent in 1997. The PNP has also become the second largest source of economic immigration to Canada.

All provinces and territories, with the exception of Quebec and Nunavut, have Provincial Nominee agreements. The PNP gives provinces and territories an active role in immigrant selection as they may nominate for permanent residence individuals who meet specific local labour market needs. Under the Canada-Quebec Accord, Quebec has the sole authority for selecting immigrants to its province. However, these candidates must still meet CIC's admissibility requirements.

CIC consults regularly with provincial and territorial governments to develop a balanced immigration plan, including the number of anticipated nominations per province. It is important to note that in order for CIC to reach annual admissions targets, provinces and territories must submit sufficient and timely nominations. The Provincial Nominee allotments for 2012 are still being finalized and will be released later on.

"CIC is working closely with provinces and territories to improve the program design, integrity and management of the Provincial Nominee Program," said Minister Kenney. CIC launched a national evaluation of the Provincial Nominee Program last year and expects to release the results in 2012. The federal, provincial and territorial governments are also moving towards a multi-year levels planning approach for 2013 and beyond.

A graph is available at the following address: http://media3.marketwire.com/docs/Graph_CIC_1107.pdf

Building a stronger Canada: Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) strengthens Canada's economic, social and cultural prosperity, helping ensure Canadian safety and security while managing one of the largest and most generous immigration programs in the world.

        
        Contacts:
        Candice Malcolm
        Minister's Office
        Citizenship and Immigration Canada
        
        Media Relations
        Communications Branch
        Citizenship and Immigration Canada
        613-952-1650
        CIC-Media-Relations@cic.gc.ca

SOURCE: Citizenship and Immigration Canada

        mailto:CIC-Media-Relations@cic.gc.ca

Canada needs more caregivers, please

From Monday's Globe and Mail

Immigration Minister Jason Kenney’s plan to accept 10,000 more skilled workers into Canada next year is a sound one, and so is the government’s overall target of 255,000 newcomers. Some other changes make less sense, and may be motivated by politics, more than economics.

Mr. Kenney acknowledged that the seven-year backlog to sponsor grandparents and parents has become unmanageable, and announced a two-year moratorium on applications. In the meantime, however, he will increase the quota by 10,000 over two years, to 25,000, and introduce a two-year multiple-entry visitor’s visa for these family members.

To compensate, there will be a lower quota in other categories, including live-in caregivers. The target is 8,000-9,300, compared to 10,500-12,500 in the past two years.

Shouldn’t it be the other way around? Why would a country with a declining fertility rate and the expected mass retirements of baby boomers want to recruit yet more older people? “The government has it backwards,” says Sergio Karas, an immigration lawyer.

While family reunification is a goal for Canada’s immigration program, family-class newcomers already make up two-thirds of all those accepted. Parents and grandparents are unlikely to create economic growth and will have more health needs.

Live-in caregivers are a category that should be expanded. They perform a key role in the labour market: caring for children in a country with no national daycare policy, and looking after the elderly. There is already a shortage of quality care for the aged, a problem that will grow in years to come with the country’s demographic shift.

Canada’s live-in caregiver program is unique in the world, and allows caregivers to apply for permanent residency after living with a family for two years, caring for either children or the aged. It has real weaknesses, such as long application-processing times, abusive employers and nannies being recruited for “fake” jobs, but the program itself remains sound.

The government would be wise to put resources into having it run more smoothly, and make sure that well-qualified caregivers are recruited to bona fide jobs and that their permanent residency applications are processed in a timely fashion. As the population ages, Canada will need more of them.