Our economy depends on the success of newcomers
The Ontario government’s fall economic and fiscal update emphasized the importance of immigration to the province’s labour needs.
It’s hard to overstate this point. The Ministry of Finance’s own forecasts find that immigration will account for all workforce growth in the province over the next quarter century. It’s no exaggeration to say our economy is dependent on the contributions of newcomers.
Yet when newcomers with professional skills, experience and qualifications arrive, they often face barriers to success. These include Canadian experience requirements, nonrecognition of foreign credentials, challenges qualifying for support programs, and employers’ “fear of the unknown.”
Our immigration policies have increasingly attracted skilled immigrants, but our labour market lags behind in utilizing their skills and expertise. And despite various federal and provincial policy reforms, this challenge persists.
A recent Statistics Canada study found that between 2001 and 2016, “university-educated recent immigrants became more concentrated in jobs requiring less than a university education.” This represents a significant waste for our economy and a huge loss for people unable to find success and selfexpression. Charting a new path requires action from all governments, but as the province receiving the largest number of immigrants Ontario has a significant role to play.
Most of the policy attention over the past 15 years has been dedicated to foreign credential recognition in regulated occupations such as law, education and the skilled trades. These efforts are important and must continue. But regulated occupations represent only about 20 per cent of jobs and policy-makers’ focus must be wider.
Our new policy brief published by the Ontario 360 project, housed at the Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy, puts forward a series of policy recommendations to improve the integration of skilled immigrants into Ontario’s economy. The goal is to inform a provincial strategy that touches all parts of the labour market.
One area for focus lies in making employment support programs more demand-led — not simply helping immigrants with credentialing or training, but making provincial programs function more like executive search services that connect qualified workers with businesses who need them.
To improve talent use and retention, qualification for these programs also needs to be opened to include those on work permits and new citizens, many of them women, who may begin their career path longer after immigrating. Pre-arrival services also need attention, working with the federal government to expand programs that can connect immigrants directly to employers before they arrive.
There have been considerable changes to the immigration file since the Ford government took office in 2018.
These responsibilities now reside in the newly constituted Ministry of Labour Training and Skills Development. With the ground settled, it’s now time to consolidate leadership and drive a new strategy to support professionally skilled immigrants.
Frankly, we cannot afford not to. More than ever, the success of immigrants, the province and country are fundamentally intertwined. Jon Medow and Ollie Sheldrick are public policy consultants and the authors of the Ontario 360 policy brief, “Integrating Newcomers into Ontario’s Economy: A Strategy for Professionally Skilled Immigrant Success.”