Canada jobs: Record high vacancies in healthcare sectors. Details here

A Statistics Canada report for August 2020 shows there were 152,000 vacant positions within the healthcare and social assistance sector, a .4% increase over the June and July data for a total of 6.4%.

In fact, due to a lack of staff, several hospitals were forced to shut down their emergency rooms or reduce other services temporarily.

Canada relies heavily on immigration to fill the vacancies in the healthcare system. A quarter of registered nurses and 36% of physicians in Canada are not Canadian-born, a CIC news report says.

But, it is difficult to obtain proper licensing from Canadian authorities if you are foreign-trained medical professionals

Statistics Canada report measures the number of employees within Canada’s workforce who are currently receiving wages, how much money they make and how many hours they work. It also monitors job vacancies, or positions that were previously filled by an employee that are currently empty for any reason.

As per the report, there were a total of 958,500 vacant payroll employment positions in Canada last August.

Canada to invite 500,000 new immigrants in 2025

In a bid to boost its economy amid the labour shortage crisis, Canada is planning to increase the immigrants’ entry into the coming years. Immigration Levels Plan 2023-2025, which was recently released, announced its aim to welcome 465,000 new immigrants in 2023. This will further increase as the country is likely to set a target of 485,000 new immigrants in 2024, and 500,000 new immigrants in 2025.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau welcomed the plan for immigrants. In a LinkedIn post, Trudeau wrote, “This plan outlines how we are going to increase our targets in the years ahead, and it cements our place among the world’s top destinations for talent”.

Trudeau added, “Immigration helps create economic growth, helps businesses find the workers they need, and helps us address workforce needs”.

Canada is currently in a unique period where there is a labour shortage alongside nearly one million job vacancies. These are the two significant factors in the country’s growing immigration targets.