A rise in paid employment of Canada work visa holders sets new hopes

News highlights

• A significant rise in paid employment via a Canada work visa was seen in Canada
• Post-pandemic job market situation found to be better than pre-pandemic
• Statistics Canada reports a very active job market scenario

In March 2022, the number of job vacancies hit a record high in Canada as the number of paid employment in most of the Canadian provinces exceeded the numbers during the pre-COVID period.

Barring 2 Canadian provinces, Newfoundland & Labrador and Alberta, all the Canadian provinces crossed their payroll employment level in February 2020. That was before the COVID-19 pandemic occurred.

In Alberta, there was a drop in paid employment of 12,700 and in Newfoundland & Labrador, the decline in paid jobs numbers was 1,700. This was revealed by Statistics Canada.

The target of job vacancies to be filled by Canadian employers exceeded 1 million jobs. They have been trying hard to achieve the target as the job vacancies increased by 22.6% (186,400 positions) in March 2022. The number of vacancies was up by 60.5% (382,000 positions) when compared with March 2021.

The job vacancy rate in March 2022 was 5.9% which came to the level of September 2021.

The better times that came after the lifting of COVID-19 restrictions

Here’s what the statistical and demographic services agency of Canada came up with regarding the rise in paid employment in the country in the backdrop of the removal of COVID-19 restrictions.

“The number of employees receiving pay or benefits from their employer, measured by the Survey of Employment, Payrolls and Hours (SEPH) as payroll employment, increased by 118,100, or up 0.7%, in March.”

Statistics Canada

Directly proportional to the continued easing of COVID-19 health measures was the increase in payroll employment in Canadian provinces. The restrictions were lifted mostly by the last 2 weeks of March 2022, even while certain jurisdictions maintained a level of requirement for masking, vaccination, and testing.

Nova Scotia, Manitoba, and Saskatchewan were the only provinces that reported barely any change in the number of paid jobs in March 2022.

As for Quebec, the province registered an addition of 20,400 paid jobs in the accommodations and food services sector in March 2022.

The overall increase in service sector jobs in Canada happened by 103,400 jobs. This came to a 0.7% growth. Here are the rates at which paid jobs were added to various industrial sectors as of March 2022:

• Retail trade – 46,200
• Goods production – 9,400
• Manufacturing – 5,100
• Mining, quarrying, and oil & gas extraction – 2,100

All provinces with the exception of Manitoba and Ontario had more jobs in the retail sector in March 2022 compared to February 2020.

The dearth of skilled labor led Canadian employers to frantically try to find such candidates overseas, even making the offer more enticing with higher wages. In March 2022, the average weekly earnings a worker made in Canada increased by 0.9% ($1,170). This led to the average worker in Canada with a year-over-year hike in pay of 4.3% in March 2022.

The only thing that affected the pay raise was the increasing inflation. The Consumer Price Index rose by 6.7% in March 2022.

“Of all sectors, utilities recorded the largest year-over-year increase in average weekly earnings in March, up 11.7% to $2,011, followed by finance and insurance, up 12.1% to $1,625, and professional, scientific, and technical services which rose 8% to $1,633.”

Statistics Canada

Pathways for Canadian employers to hire foreign nationals

TFWP and IMP are 2 immigration pathways that enable Canadian employers to hire foreign nationals who are skilled and talented in various fields of work. The Global Talent Stream (GTS), which is a part of the TFWP, can process Canada work visa applications under normal situations within two weeks.

Canada Express Entry is another pathway through which Canadian employers can bring in foreign nationals to fill available job vacancies. An EOI will be submitted by applicants who are eligible under one of 3 federal immigration programs or a participating Canada PNP, to the Express Entry Pool.

These profiles are assigned ranks each according to CRS, a points-based system. Candidates who rank the highest are sent ITAs for Canada PR. Those candidates have to submit a full application within 90 days of receiving the ITA.

If you are willing to migrate to Canada, talk to Y-Axis, the leading immigration and career consultant in the UAE.

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