Future Canadian skills shortage spells good news for migrants

A recent skills seminar on Canada’s labour market has revealed an impending skills shortage in the popular immigrant destination country.

The summit, held in Toronto in June, was focused on skilled labour, its marketplace, skills training and under-represented sectors within the market. Employment and Social Development Minister Jason Kenney took the opportunity to warn of an impeding skills shortage in sectors across the country.

Kenney cautioned delegates that skills shortages will become a crucial issue in the near future, adding that informed discussion involving Canada’s labour market is the only way to close the gap before the economy is harmed. He said that shortages were expected to be particularly acute in the important petroleum, mining and construction sectors.

According to Kenney, demographics are to blame, as the majority of workers in the essential sectors are baby-boomers coming up to retirement. Skilled trades are no longer attracting younger Canadians, with the shortage of one million workers expected by 2020 likely to destabilise the country’s economic potential.

Although encouraging young people to take up skilled trades is part of the answer as it will help de-stigmatise apprenticeships as a career option, the minister believes the slack will need to be taken up by qualified, experienced immigrants in high numbers. Canada, he said, will need to appear more attractive to migrants than at present