The Institute du Québec’s study sheds light on how the pandemic affected Quebec’s labour force.
Quebec has started off the year with a low per centum and a record range of job vacancies. In an effort to handle labour shortages, the provincial and federal governments have place forth variety of measures to support immigrants.
The pandemic has remodeled Quebec’s labour market. Public health measures have exacerbated previously-existing labour market gaps and brought forth new challenges, according to a report from the Institute du Québec.
The report titled Bilan 2021 de l’emploi au Québec : Transformations sectorielles et déficit de compétences en vue poses key queries that have emerged during the pandemic in a shot to know the labour market’s current state.
“We have begun 2022 with one among all-time low state rates in years and a record range of job vacancies,” said Mia Homsy, Chief executive officer of the Institut du Québec, in a media release.
“With a dwindling pool of potential workers and a substantial decrease within the labour market participation rate among those fifty five and up, unless businesses, unions, faculties and governments embrace a considerable shift in their approach to human resources management, the labour shortage can doubtless be the most important obstacle to recovery.”
Labour market challenges expected in 2022
According to the report, Quebec’s aging population can still have an effect on labour provide, as employees reach retirement age amid a amount of high job vacancies and low state. Some groups of workers, including those within the age fifty five plus group, aren’t absolutely back to figure and it’s going to be troublesome to entice early retirees among them to return.
Further, the accommodation, food services and retail industry may be facing current recruitment issues, which can end in employers needing to rethink their business models, even beyond the pandemic.
With a lot of opportunities to work from home or in a hybrid model, jobs that do not provide this selection might become less fascinating to potential workers. Employers struggling with recruiting issues may need to lower their hiring standards, particularly those associated with academic credentials. If this becomes the case, it might mean that educational requirements for a given job might not be as tight as they were before the pandemic. corporations may be ready to offset this by increasing focus on skilled development and in-house training to take care of competitiveness.
Finally, more professions are going to be trying to find candidates with stronger reading comprehension, writing and complex solving skills, whereas Quebec and therefore the rest of Canada are already struggling with digital literacy. the requirement for qualified employees can still grow, particularly in health care, social assistance, academic services, information technology and construction.
Quebec’s immigration measures to handle labour shortages
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Quebec is taking measures to handle labour shortages, like increasing immigration levels and creating it easier for employers with real labour shortages to hire temporary foreign workers.
The province is ready to welcome 52,500 new permanent residents in 2022, according to Quebec’s Immigration Levels plan discharged October 28, 2021. Most of those newcomers can come back through Quebec’s economic immigration programs, together with the Quebec skilled worker Program (QSWP) and therefore the Québec experience Program (PEQ).
The levels plan conjointly requires a further 18,000 admissions to succeed in the admission levels that weren’t met in 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic. this suggests that quite 70,000 newcomers may be admitted to Quebec in 2022.
A number of measures for temporary foreign employees in Quebec have conjointly been introduced. As of this past January, certain Quebec workplaces will currently support staff of up to 20 temporary employees, up from 100 pc. This measure applies to businesses in hard-hit sectors like retail, and accommodation and food services, among others.
Also, on may 24 this year, occupations listed below National occupational Classification (NOC) ability level C can now be enclosed within the Traitement Simplifié, (facilitated processing). This simplified process permits Quebec employers a lot of flexibility below the Temporary Foreign worker Program (TFWP). On December 6, 2021, Quebec proclaimed that certain noc D occupations were exempt from the advertising and enlisting necessities of the TFWP. Previously, solely occupations classified below noc skill levels 0, A, and B were eligible for facilitated processing.
These measures are among multiple enforced by Quebec and therefore the federal government to support the province’s labour market through immigration. The Institut du Québec’s report shows immigrants have high instances of employment in Quebec’s workforce. Employment recovery has been strongest among landed immigrants who are in Canada for fewer than 5 years. the employment rate for these newcomers was at nearly seventy six in 2021 compared to roughly sixty fourth for the same period in 2019.
At the tip of 2021, overall immigrant employment rate was nearly 83%—up from about seventy eight in 2019.