PEI Employers Meeting Labour Shortage Challenge Thanks To Canada Immigrants

Employers in Prince Edward Island are dealing with labour shortages thanks to immigrants and temporary residents, the latest data from the Canadian census reveals.

In its Census Profile, 2021 Census of Population released last month, the statistical and demographic services agency shows more than three times as many residents settled on the Island in the five years that ended in 2021 compared to the previous five-year period.


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The census shows 4,860 immigrants settled in the province in the five years ending in 2021, slightly more than three times the 1,615 that settled in Prince Edward Island in the five years that ended in 2015.

Immigrants And Temporary Residents Are 11.4% Of PEI Population

There were also 5,430 temporary residents, international workers with work permits and students, in 2021.

The 17,195 immigrants and temporary residents in the province comprised slightly more than 11.4 per cent of the Island’s population by the end of that year.

That growing number of immigrants and temporary residents in the province allows Prince Edward Island employers, who had 4,520 jobs going begging for a lack of workers in the second quarter of this year, up from 3,240 a year earlier, to find much-needed workers.

Although the number of people working rose by almost 12.4 per cent in the second quarter of 2022, to 65,620 from 61,695 for the comparable quarter last year, the job vacancy rate still rose. 

The job vacancy rate there stood at 6.4 per cent in the second quarter of this year, up from five per cent a year earlier.


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Earlier this year, the small island province in Atlantic Canada made it easier for foreign-trained truckers to get their Class 5 license and work in Prince Edward Island.

Under the Licensed Driver Education Course, foreign nationals can enjoy the same benefits currently enjoyed by Americans, the British and the Japanese.

Those countries have a reciprocity agreement with Canada. It allows citizens of those countries to simply swap their countries’ driver’s licenses for Canadian ones once they come to Canada.

Not so for other countries like China, Brazil or India, the biggest single source of new permanent residents to Canada.

Immigrants from those countries previously had to complete tests and go through a roughly one-year-long graduated program which came with passenger limits and other restrictions.

With the global labour shortage of truckers, the new program to more quickly allow foreign nationals to swap their driver’s licenses for Canadian ones has been a boon for those looking for jobs as commercial drivers.

Foreign Nationals Looking For Jobs On PEI Have A Choice Of Economic Immigration Programs

There are several ways for foreign nationals to immigrate to Prince Edward Island.

Under the Prince Edward Island Provincial Nominee Program (PNP), foreign nationals who meet provincial criteria can immigrate to the Atlantic Canadian province through three streams:

  • the Prince Edward Island Express Entry;
  • Prince Edward Island Labour Impact, and;
  • Prince Edward Island Business Impact.

The province also welcomes immigrants through the joint federal-provincial Atlantic Immigration Program (AIP)

Periodically throughout the year, the PEI PNP issues Letters of Advice to Apply (LAA) through provincial draws.

PEI’s Express Entry category operates by considering candidates already in the federal Express Entry Pool for a provincial nomination.

Such a nomination adds 600 points to a candidate’s Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS) score and effectively guarantees an Invitation to Apply (ITA) for Canadian immigration.

Those eyeing the PEI Express Entry pathway must be registered in the federal Express Entry system and meet the requirements of one of the three federal economic immigration programs:

The PEI Express Entry Category features two pathways to Canadian permanent residence, one for candidates with a job offer and one for those without a position. Priority is given to applicants living and working in PEI.

Under the Prince Edward Island Labour Impact pathway, there are two streams:

Foreign nationals applying under the PEI Work Permit Stream need to get a work permit and then take a job with a business in the province for a certain amount of time as designated in a performance agreement.

Canada Immigration Fuels Fastest Quarterly Population Growth Since 1957

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Statistics Canada says immigrants pushed Canada’s population up by almost a full percentage point in the third quarter of this year, the fastest quarterly growth in 65 years.

By Oct. 1, the Canadian population had hit 39,292,355 people. That was up 362,453 people, or 0.9 per cent, from the country’s population on Canada Day. 

“This was the highest quarterly population growth rate since the second quarter of 1957 when the population grew by 1.2 per cent,” reports Statistics Canada.


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“At the time, Canada’s population was 16.7 million people and it increased by 198,000 people. This rapid population growth was related to the high number of births during the post-war baby boom and the high immigration of refugees following the Hungarian Revolution in 1956.”

After more than six decades, immigration is still largely responsible for the most impressive population growth in Canada.

“Canada’s total population growth for the first nine months of 2022 was 776,217 people and has already surpassed the total growth for any full-year period since Confederation in 1867,” notes Statistics Canada. 

“This high level of growth was mostly, 94 per cent, due to international migration which added 340,666 people … pushed Canada’s population over 39 million for the first time.”

Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada’s (IRCC) record-breaking immigration targets are certainly helping to drive population growth.


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In its 2023-2025 Immigration Levels Plan, the federal government targets record immigration to Canada each year through 2025. 

The target for next year is 465,000 new permanent residents. The country would welcome 485,000 new permanent residents in 2024 and 500,000 in 2025.

That’s a total of 1.45 million immigrants to Canada over the coming three years.

“In the third quarter of 2022, Canada welcomed 122,145 immigrants, about the same number as in the third quarter of 2021, which saw 122,911 immigrants arrive, and the second-highest number of immigrants in any third quarter since 1946, the year quarterly data became available,” reports Statistics Canada.

Temporary Residents To Canada Are The Main Driver Of Population Growth

But all of those new permanent residents are not the main driver of Canada’s population growth.

“The record population growth in the third quarter of 2022 was mainly driven by an increase of 225,198 non-permanent residents,” reports Statistics Canada. “This increase was almost 68,000 more people than the last record increase, in the second quarter of 2022, which saw an increase of 157,310 non-permanent residents.

“This increase was driven by work permit holders, but all types of non-permanent residents increased, and Canada continued welcoming people fleeing the Russian invasion of Ukraine. All provinces and territories saw an increase in the number of non-permanent residents, with Ontario, up 106,459, British Columbia, up 39,429, and Quebec, up 34,299, accounting for 80 per cent of the increase.”

Earlier this year, the statistical and demographic services agency forecast that immigrants are likely to comprise more than a third of Canada’s population within the next 19 years because they are responsible for almost all population growth in the country. 

“Given that the population of Canada continues to age and fertility is below the population replacement level, today immigration is the main driver of population growth,” noted Statistics Canada on Wednesday.

“If these trends continue, based on Statistics Canada’s recent population projections, immigrants could represent from 29.1 per cent to 34 per cent of the population of Canada by 2041.”

A Third Of All Canadians Will Be Immigrants In 19 Years, Predicts Statistics Canada

That’s more than one in three Canadians.

And the arrival of all of those immigrants will significantly alter the demographic composition of the country, explained Statistics Canada.

“Immigrants come from many different countries, bringing with them their cultural, ethnic, linguistic and religious heritage,” noted the agency in its latest Daily report.

“In the past, the majority of immigrants in Canada came from Europe. However, over the past 50 years, the share of new immigrants from Europe has declined, with the share of new immigrants who were born in Asia (including the Middle East) increasing.

“Over time, Asia has become the top source region of new immigrants, and this trend continued in 2021. The share of new immigrants from Africa also increased. Together, immigrants, Indigenous people – who have walked this land for thousands of years, before Europeans settled here – and their descendants have helped shape Canada as it is known today.”

According to Statistics Canada, more than 8.3 million people, or almost one-quarter, exactly 23 per cent, of the Canadian population, were, or had ever been, landed immigrants or permanent residents in Canada.

“This was the largest proportion since Confederation, topping the previous 1921 record of 22.3 per cent, and the highest among the G7,” noted Statistics Canada.

Canada Job Vacancies Remain High As Employers Boost Wages To Attract Workers

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The latest report from Statistics Canada reveals employers throughout Canada are increasing wages in their attempts to attract much-needed workers as the number of job vacancies across the country remains high.

“Faced with a tight labour market and hiring difficulties, some employers respond by raising the offered wages of their vacancies,” reports Statistics Canada. “Compared with the same quarter a year earlier, the average offered hourly wage increased by 7.5 per cent to $24.20 in the third quarter.”


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In its third-quarter report, the statistical and demographic services agency notes that job vacancies did soften somewhat in that quarter, dropping 3.3 per cent to 959,600 from the record high of 992,200 vacant positions in the second quarter of the year. 

But the latest quarter still had a very high number of job vacancies.

Job Vacancies 8.3% Higher Than Last Year

“It was 8.3 per cent higher than in the third quarter of 2021 and 72.7 per cent higher than in the first quarter of 2020,” reports Statistics Canada.

The job vacancy rate, which is calculated by dividing the number of vacant positions in Canada by the total number of jobs, both filled and unfilled, was 5.4 per cent in the third quarter of this year, down a smidgeon from 5.7 per cent in the previous quarter.

That’s a very, very tight labour market. Even if every unemployed person had the right skills and experience to do the available jobs, there were still barely enough people unemployed in Canada to fill the available jobs in the country during the third quarter – and, of course, there is no such perfect match in the workforce.


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“There was an average of 1.1 unemployed persons for each job vacancy in Canada in the third quarter of 2022, similar to the record low reached in the second quarter,” reports Statistics Canada.

Canadian employers trying to survive during this acute labour shortage can recruit and hire foreign nationals through the Temporary Foreign Worker Program (TFWP) and the International Mobility Program (IMP).

The Global Talent Stream (GTS), a part of the TFWP, can under normal processing situations lead to the granting of Canadian work permits and the processing of visa applications within two weeks.

Under the Express Entry system, immigrants can also apply for permanent residency online if they meet the eligibility criteria for one of three federal immigration programs, the Federal Skilled Worker Program (FSW), Federal Skilled Trades Program (FST), and Canada Experience Class Program (CEC),  or a participating provincial immigration program.

Candidates’ profiles are then ranked against each other according to a points-based system called the Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS). The highest-ranked candidates are considered for an Invitation to Apply (ITA) for permanent residence. Those receiving an ITA must quickly submit a full application and pay processing fees, within a delay of 90 days.

Job Vacancies Rose In Manitoba And Saskatchewan

Through a network of Provincial Nominee Programs (PNP), almost all of Canada’s ten provinces and three territories can also nominate skilled worker candidates for admission to Canada when they have the specific skills required by local economies. Successful candidates who receive a provincial or territorial nomination can then apply for Canadian permanent residence through federal immigration authorities.

In the third quarter of this year, the big economic engines of Canada saw a drop in job vacancies but these rose in the Prairie provinces of Manitoba and Saskatchewan.

“Job vacancies decreased in the third quarter in Quebec, down 6.7 per cent to 232,400, British Columbia down 4.7 per cent to 155,400, and Ontario, down 3.6 per cent to 364,000,” reports Statistics Canada.


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“At the same time, the number of vacancies was up in Manitoba, an increase of 10.7 per cent to 32,400, and Saskatchewan, up 7.5 per cent to 24,300, while it was relatively stable in the other provinces.”

Despite the drops in job vacancies in the latest quarter, British Columbia and Quebec still have the highest job vacancy rates among the provinces. In Atlantic Canada, Newfoundland and Labrador remained the province with the lowest job vacancy rate in the third quarter. 

Across occupational sectors, professional, scientific and technical services saw their first decline in job vacancies in two years in the third quarter.

“Job vacancies in the professional, scientific and technical services declined 15.4 per cent from the record high reached in the second quarter to 63,100 in the third quarter,” reports Statistics Canada.

In the sector with the highest number of job vacancies, the restaurant industry, things were marginally improved for employers looking for staff in the third quarter.

“There were 140,000 job vacancies in accommodation and food services in the third quarter, down 6.5 per cent, or 9,700, from the second quarter,” reports Statistics Canada. 

“As has been the case since the summer of 2021, the job vacancy rate in the accommodation and food services sector in the third quarter, at 10 per cent, was highest among all sectors, despite the decline in that quarter.”

Healthcare And Social Services Sector Saw Bump In Job Vacancies

Manufacturing also saw a drop in job vacancies, of 8.7 per cent, that quarter, the first decrease in this sector since the third quarter of 2019, the last full year before the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Things were little changed in the construction sector. The demand for electricians, carpenters, construction trades helpers and labourers, if anything, only grew during that latest quarter.

So too did things tighten up even more in the healthcare sector, itself already reeling from an acute shortage of nurses and physicians.

“On a quarter-over-quarter basis, job vacancies rose in the third quarter for registered nurses and registered psychiatric nurses, up 17 per cent to 27,600; nurse aides, orderlies and patient service associates, up 37.5 per cent to 26,200; and licensed practical nurses, up 20.7 per cent to 13,100,” reports Statistics Canada. 

“Together, these occupations made up the majority, 69.2 per cent, of all vacancies in health occupations in the third quarter.”