International students could help ease Canada labour crisis

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Canada’s decision earlier this month to temporarily allow international students to work more than 20 hours per week was widely praised, yet experts say a lot more will be required to meaningfully tackle the country’s labour crisis as the government prepares to release its next immigration plan in the coming weeks.

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The federal government hopes the country’s 500,000 foreign students will work additional hours when the cap is suspended in mid-November for a year, easing pressure on employers who were trying to fill almost one million positions in July, according to Statistics Canada. For the students, the policy change could also help stave off cost-of-living pressures due to high inflation and accelerate their careers.

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“Many short-term measures imposed during the pandemic could be useful permanent changes,” Navdeep Bains, the former industry minister who is now an executive at Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, and Elder Marques, a lawyer at Blake, Cassels & Graydon LLP, wrote in the Financial Post. “Immigration Minister Sean Fraser’s decision this month to lift the 20-hour cap on hours worked by international students is one step, particularly if combined with efforts to encourage more to stay in Canada and contribute to our economy longer term.”

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Still, the temporary loosening of employment restrictions could reinforce the student stream as a pathway to permanent residency, which would put additional pressure on an immigration system that’s already plagued by backlogs due to lack of resources, some analysts said. Ottawa spent the summer trying to explain how the immigration and citizen system had become so crippled that it couldn’t keep up with demand for passport renewals, leading to months-long waits for a routine government service. The situation has improved, but hasn’t yet returned to normal.

“In a world of limited resources, the changes here could translate into delays in other parts of the system,” said Rebekah Young, vice-president and head of inclusion and resilience economics at Bank of Nova Scotia. A rush of new student visa applications could have the unintended consequence of delaying the “welcoming of highly qualified candidates into full-time jobs where their contribution to the productivity and welfare of Canadian society could be more immediate,” she said.

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To tackle the mounting pressure, the Business Council of Canada (BCC), an association of leaders of about 150 big companies, has urged immigration authorities to add new processing centres, update “outdated IT systems,” hire more border and settlement officials, and expand the expedited entry systems before the government announces its next immigration plan.

In response, Remi Lariviere, a spokesperson for the immigration department, said the potential changes wouldn’t impact the processing times because the policy change will apply only to those already in Canada. Lariviere added that the immigration department is in the process of hiring up to 1,250 new employees by the end of the fall and is heading towards an “integrated and modernized” working environment to “help speed up application processing globally.” 

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Immigration plays a key role in Canada’s labour supply, accounting for 84 per cent of the growth in the total labour force during the 2010s, according to Statistics Canada.

The federal government is expected to submit its next Immigration Levels Plan before the start of November. It will outline the number of immigrants the country is expected to welcome annually through its different programs. As per the current plan, Canada aims to welcome 431,645 new permanent residents in 2022, 447,055 in 2023 and 451,000 in 2024.

Businesses have urged the government to increase the number of permanent residents, given that job vacancies have reached record highs in recent months and the country has both a declining birthrate and an aging workforce.

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The BCC wants the government to increase the number of immigrants entering the country in the next two years, and proposed that at least 65 per cent of newcomers enter through the economic class program, which measures an immigrant’s ability to work in the country. Currently, 57 per cent of immigrants enter through that program.

People who aren’t part of the economic class program include those who enter the country on humanitarian grounds and for family reunification.

Trevor Neiman, BCC’s digital economy director, said this is where the suspension of the 20-hour cap on students can play a key role, because it would help students gain more work experience that could translate to an increased likelihood of permanent residency.

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“Currently, a small proportion of international students apply for permanent residency after graduating,” Neiman said. “The ability to obtain meaningful employment is a major determinator of whether an international student decides to settle permanently.”

However, Neiman added that the “key to realizing these benefits” will be to ensure international students are able to find jobs relevant to their field.

Data show the skills of newcomers are underutilized. The number of university-educated immigrants working in jobs requiring a university degree fell to 38 per cent in 2016, from 46 per cent in 2001, compared to 60 per cent for Canadian-born workers, according to Statistics Canada.

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Allison Pond, chief executive of ACCES Employment, a charitable organization that assists job seekers, said the removal of the 20-hour cap means students and employers might be “less enticed” by “under-the-table” work arrangements that can often be “precarious and potentially dangerous.”

Christian Fotang, chair of the Canadian Alliance of Student Associations (CASA), echoed that sentiment, and said that the extra hours could help prevent exploitation of students, which he described as a concern for student leaders.

“We have heard from many international students from across the country how much this change means to them. This means they can pick up an extra shift working retail at the local mall, or at the off-campus student bar,” said Fotang. “CASA hopes to see this program become permanent.”

Lariviere said Ottawa doesn’t want students to “prioritize their jobs over their studies” but hopes that they can “offset some of their expenses,” through the pilot program. Lariviere added that the immigration department expects learning institutions and other stakeholders to share their observations on the effects of the temporary change.

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