TORONTO: In order to address acute labour shortage, Canada plans to welcome a record 500,000 new permanent residents in 2025, the government said while announcing the Immigration Levels Plan for 2023-2025 on Tuesday.
The North American nation increased its 2023 immigration target to 465,000 and its 2024 target to 485,000, up 4 per cent and 7.5 per cent, respectively. Canada’s immigration goals include growing the economy, reuniting families, and offering asylum to refugees fleeing hardship abroad, CIC News reported. In 2021, Canada broke its all-time immigration record by welcoming over 405,000 immigrants.
The majority of new permanent residents immigrate through economic class programs such as those within the Express Entry system or through Provincial Nomination Programs (PNPs). According to the new plan, there will be 82,880 Express Entry landings in 2023, 109,020 in 2024 and 114,000 in 2025.
The PNP will remain Canada’s leading admissions program for economic class immigrants with 105,500 PNP landings in 2023, 110,000 in 2024 and 117,500 in 2025. According to CIC News, Canada will continue to look to welcome some 80,000 new immigrants per year under the Spouses, Partners and Children program.
Targets for the Parents and Grandparents Program will rise to 28,500 in 2023, followed by 34,000 in 2024, and 36,000 in 2025. The most recent job vacancy data showed there were 958,500 open roles in Canada in August and 1 million unemployed people. The economy lost almost $13 billion over the past year due to a nationwide labour and skill shortage in the manufacturing sector, the Canadian Manufacturers and Exporters’ labour survey of 563 manufacturers in 17 industries across the country found.
Labour shortages are further impacted by Canada’s low birth rate of 1.4 children per woman, one of the lowest globally, according to media reports. According to a CIC News report, nine million people, or nearly a quarter of Canada’s population, will reach retirement age by 2030, which will create an urgent shortage of workers throughout all sectors of the economy.
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