Meeting BC’s Workforce Needs

Helping employers hire and retain skilled immigrants

Sohee Ahn

Executive Director Labour Market & Immigration Division Ministry of Jobs, Tourism and Skills Training September 2012

IMMIGRATION IS ESSENTIAL TO BC’S LABOUR MARKET

 40,000 immigrants per year – 3,500 through the Provincial Nominee Program  70,000 temporary foreign workers per year  1 million job openings in BC to 2020 – 1/3 will need to be filled by immigrants  BC needs the full utilization of immigrant skills – huge source of untapped human capital and source of economic growth Slide 2

KEY PRIORITIES TO MEET NEEDS OF EMPLOYERS Immigration Task Force found challenges recognizing foreign qualifications and work experience by regulators and employers prevent economic immigrants from fully contributing to BC’s labour market IECBC found employers experienced difficulties assessing credentials and qualifications, navigating the plethora of information and resources, and that a lack of Canadian work experience was a barrier to hiring more immigrants BC Government is taking action to increase labour market attachment and improve outcomes for skilled immigrants and employers

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IMPROVING INTEGRATION: FOREIGN QUALIFICATIONS RECOGNITION

Defining Foreign Qualifications Recognition – The process of determining that the knowledge, skills and work experience obtained in another country are comparable to the standards established for professionals and tradespersons in BC Provincial legislation 62 regulators 260+ regulated occupations Slide 4

IMPROVING INTEGRATION: FOREIGN QUALIFICATIONS RECOGNITION

Priorities for improving BC’s FQR system for employers Implementing recommendations from FQR Review Competency based assessments Upgrade immigrants’ skills to Canadian standards Pre-arrival information Slide 5

IMPROVING ATTRACTION: WelcomeBC.ca

WelcomeBC.ca helps 1 million visitors each year Slide 6

IMPROVING ATTRACTION: WelcomeBC.ca

Toolkit for employers to hire and retain internationally trained workers– March 2013

Tool to help employers identify the right program to find skilled workers Checklists to guide employers through the hiring process Webinars with experts to help employers walk through process of different hiring options Slide 7

How can we improve?

 How can current efforts to help employers hire skilled immigrants be improved?

 What else can government do to support employers hire skilled immigrants?

Government’s role:

facilitate an efficient system

Employer’s role:

provide opportunities to immigrants Slide 8

Contacts

Sohee Ahn

Executive Director Labour Market & Immigration Division Ministry of Jobs, Tourism and Skills Training [email protected]

Shannon Renault

Manager Labour Market & Immigration Division Ministry of Jobs, Tourism and Skills Training [email protected]

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