In the post-pandemic era, workforce shortage has become a major concern across Canada. Almost every economic sector reports a workforce shortage, hampering economic growth. In order to tackle the workforce shortage, the Canadian government has been using immigration as the sole effective method. It will be easy to meet economic requirements by bringing economic immigrants to Canada. Therefore, over time, the federal government has increased the immigration levels plan.
As per the new immigration plan, over the span of three years, approximately 1.5 million new immigrants will be admitted to Canada. However, the entries will be happening via different immigration programs. And this year, i.e., 2023, PNP will overtake Express Entry as the leading pathway for inviting economic immigrants to Canada. Therefore, PR aspirants would have elevated opportunities to get Canadian PR.
The sole objective of high immigration plans is to reinforce the economy by mitigating the workforce shortage. To make immigration plans more economic-oriented, the IRCC introduced category-based draws. These “new category-based draws” will assist the government in meeting the economic and demographic requirements seamlessly. On May 31, the immigration minister announced which categories would be preferred through these new category-based draws.
These category-based draws will be carried out with the general and program-specific draws. As you are already aware that in the general draws, the IRCC sends the ITA to the highest CRS scoring profile in the Express Entry draws to apply for the Canada PR visa. On the other hand, whenever the IRCC comes up with a program-specific draw, candidates with the highest CRS score of a specific program are invited to apply for the PR visa. However, the criteria for picking up the candidates will differ in category-based draws.
In the category-based draws, the IRCC will send ITAs to candidates with work experience in the following sectors and occupations.
- Healthcare
- Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) professions
- Trades, such as carpenters, plumbers, and contractors
- Transport Agriculture and agri-food
How the IRCC Created these New Categories?
If you hold work experience in any of the above-listed categories, you might need to know in which provinces these jobs are highly in-demand. We will help you go through the 2022 (Q4) Canadian job market to get better insights into the current market conditions for the occupations.
The Canadian government has no other option to deal with the workforce shortage instead of inviting immigrants to Canada on a large scale. The IRCC made these categories after a discussion with all provinces & territories and other stakeholders. These categories included all those occupations that are in high demand throughout Canada.
Read our latest post: The IRCC is all Set to Conduct Category-based Express Entry Draws this Summer
Healthcare:
After the pandemic, the demand for healthcare workers has increased significantly throughout Canada. Almost every Canadian province and territory reports a scarcity of professional healthcare workers. Therefore, the job vacancies in this particular have been increasing drastically across all provinces and territories.
For a long time, Canada has been inviting overseas healthcare professionals from across the world to fulfill vacant positions. According to statistics, a quarter of registered nurses and 36% of physicians are from outside of Canada. Therefore, the Canadian government is willing to invite foreign-trained healthcare workers in large numbers.
In the fourth quarter of 2022, there were around 143,695 vacancies across Canada in the healthcare and social assistance category. In other words, the job vacancy rate in this particular category was 6%. Please find the breakdown of vacancies per province:
| Ontario | 55,250 |
| Quebec | 40, 105 |
| British Columbia | 17,705 |
| Alberta | 9,770 |
| Saskatchewan | 2,955 |
| Manitoba | 6,790 |
| Newfoundland | 2,250 |
| Nova Scotia | 4,780 |
| New Brunswick | 2,630 |
| PEI | 685 |
| Northwest Territories | 565 |
Transport:
In the transport and warehousing category, the vacancies are falling gradually since the start of 2021. As per the data, the total number of vacancies in this particular category was 43,700. To know the number of vacancies per province, please go through the below-attached table:
| Ontario | 15,110 |
| Quebec | 7,950 |
| British Columbia | 9,060 |
| Alberta | 6,445 |
| Saskatchewan | 915 |
| Manitoba | 1,915 |
| Newfoundland | 210 |
| New Brunswick | 720 |
| Nova Scotia | 1,055 |
| PEI | 115 |
STEM Professions:
Professions related to science, technology, engineering, and mathematics fall under the category of Professional, Scientific, and technical services category. In the fourth quarter of 2022, this sector encountered 56,915 vacancies throughout Canada. Please find the below-listed table to have a look at the breakdown of the above-listed vacancies per province:
| Ontario | 24,525 |
| Quebec | 14,725 |
| British Columbia | 8,115 |
| Alberta | 5,515 |
| Saskatchewan | 895 |
| Manitoba | 630 |
| Newfoundland | 405 |
| New Brunswick | 595 |
| Nova Scotia | 1,110 |
| PEI | 200 |
In Canada, STEM occupations are growing at a high pace. According to a Statistics Canada analysis published in November 2022, a skills gap is developing in the Canadian work market as a result of the high rate of retirement and the advancement of technology and automation in both business and daily life.
When it comes to compensation, most of the STEM professions offer you a handsome salary as compared to other categories. For instance, the average hourly salary was $35.80 for STEM occupations in the quarter fourth of 2022 compared to the Accommodation and Food Service category occupations, which was $16.35.
Read our latest post: Let’s Dive into Canada’s Immigration Points System!
Trades:
For the goal of the Statistics Canada data, this category encompasses retail and wholesale trades. In the 2022 Q4, the number of vacancies in the wholesale trades was 30,930. On the other hand, the total number of vacancies in the fourth quarter of 2022 was 108,795 in the retail trades. Please, find below the number of vacancies per province for this category:
| Ontario | 55,660 |
| Quebec | 34,495 |
| British Columbia | 19,215 |
| Alberta | 15,545 |
| Saskatchewan | 4,665 |
| Manitoba | 3,025 |
| Newfoundland | 895 |
| New Brunswick | 2,155 |
| Nova Scotia | 3,065 |
| PEI | 520 |
Agriculture and Agri-food:
In the fourth quarter of 2022, the Agriculture, Forestry, Fishing, and Hunting category had 10,535 vacancies across Canada. Since the beginning of 2021, this vacancy rate has been going down over time. Please go through below attached table to know about vacancies per province:
| Ontario | 3,070 |
| Quebec | 1,950 |
| British Columbia | 2,475 |
| Alberta | 940 |
| Saskatchewan | 540 |
| Manitoba | 550 |
| New Brunswick | 720 |
| Nova Scotia | 425 |
| PEI | 130 |
Remark:
If you hold work experience in any of the following occupations. You would have escalated chances of immigrating to Canada on a PR visa. Get in touch with us to know your eligibility for Canada PR. You can reach out to us through the mentioned details:
- Phone: 011-411-70411
- Email: consultation@dss-hr.com
