The Financial Accountability Office of Ontario revealed a report on Ontario’s Labor Market Outcomes for newcomers or Permanent Residents and the big cities. This report further claimed that the new PR employment outcomes play a pivotal role in Ontario’s growth. Interestingly, in 2022, international migration to this province peaked at 227,424 and will reach a higher level.
A Report on Ontario’s Labor Market Outcomes for Newcomers
The report stated that immigrants have contributed fairly, a two-thirds boost in Ontario’s workforce, since 2010. The total number of newcomers arriving in Ontario is partially due to the Immigration Levels Plan. IRCC annually sets forth an admission target for the number of PRs to arrive in Canada. According to the plan for 2024 to 2026, 485,000 new PRs will arrive in Canada in 2024. In addition, 500,000 newcomers will come to Canada in 2025 and 2026.
Newcomers have forever shown interest in immigrating to Ontario. One of the major factors behind Ontario’s popularity is that the Provincial Nominee Program distributes a significant number of nominations to Ontario. PNPs permit provinces to choose economic immigrants who will fit the provincial economy. Further, PNPs send them nominations for permanent residence.
This province acquires the maximum number of allocations compared to others. In 2023, Ontario possessed 16,500 allocations. This implies twice the allocations received by the province in 2022.
Ontario’s majority of new immigrants are in their prime working age
In 2022, Ontario invited 227,424 immigrants, and 92 percent were within their working age group. The working age group is under 54 years. Furthermore, 80 percent of fresh immigrants in their prime working age possessed post-secondary qualifications. Moreover, 38.5 percent of individuals display Canadian work or study experience. This indicates a change from the established newcomers who had been staying for a long. This means immigrants who have been in Canada for over five years.
The data reveals that 66.7 percent of Ontario’s established immigrants had secondary credentials. 5.4 percent possessed work or study experience.
50 percent of newcomers in Ontario tend to be economic immigrants
The report claimed that 43.4 percent of new immigrants in Ontario emerged as economic immigrants in the 1980s. This means they were skilled immigrants, and this trend has only reached new heights at 51.7 percent over the previous decades.
A majority of economic immigrants typically arrive in Canada through the Express Entry system and its programs. This implies the Federal Skilled Worker Program, the Canadian Experience Class, or the PNP.
Simultaneously, very few immigrants come to this country through the Family Class Sponsorship. This has seen a decline from 34.3 percent to just 25 percent.
Median wage is reaching a new high
The report emphasizes data from 2020, showcasing that those in Ontario having a bachelor’s degree or above tend to get an increased median wage. This is in contrast with those who did not possess a bachelor’s degree. In addition, this indicates an average salary of $61,200. Moreover, they witnessed the most minute gap within median wages compared to non-immigrants with the same education level.
In addition, recent immigrants who tend to have higher wages are essentially the ones who immigrated using the CEC. Typically, new immigrants under the CEC earn $60,100 annually a year after getting entry into Canada.
In 2020, the data displays that the new immigrants in these programs earned an average income of less than $43,000.
What about the Labor Participation Rate?
Fresh immigrants are boosting their participation rate. Furthermore, the report revealed that in 2006, the newcomers displayed a lower participation rate than the non-immigrants. However, this gap has reduced to 3,5 percent.
The participation rates tend to be higher currently. Despite this, the study claimed that 16 percent of new immigrants showing a university degree fell under the underemployed category in 2021. Moreover, these people were working in positions that only required them to have a high school education in 2021.
According to this recent study. Foreign credential recognition is a chief labor market obstacle for licensed professionals in the healthcare industry. This is also due to the healthcare industry experiencing a massive labor shortage. Additionally, Ontario’s unemployment rate for new immigrants was above that of non-immigrants. The same report revealed that the unemployment rate for all prime working age groups was 7.4 percent between 2006 and 2022. This tends to be two points higher than the median unemployment rate of 5.2 percent for those born in Canada.
Newcomers’ employment – Which are the primary industries?
The report derived its data from the 2021 Census Data and even displays that nearly 83 percent of working-age newcomers in Ontario gained employment in the services sector. The industries with a higher percentage of immigrant allocation compared to the non-immigrants are as follows:
- Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services – 4.2 percent;
- Transportation and Warehousing – Above 3,5 percent; and
- Finance and Insurance – 3 percent
It is also possible that the number of newcomers working in professional occupations is more than among freshly arrived immigrants. This is in contrast with the established immigrants.
The same data also revealed that 31.2 percent of prime working newcomers in Ontario possessed professional occupations between 2016 and 2021. This percentage is higher than the immigrants who arrived here between 2011 and 2015 (25.5 percent).
A Report on Ontario’s Labor Market Outcomes for Newcomers – The maximum recent immigrants settled in Toronto
Ontario’s maximum number of recent immigrants tend to settle in Toronto. The study further claimed that in 2021, nearly 67 percent of new immigrants selected Toronto to make their home. Typically, newcomers who arrive in Toronto tend to reside here for the rest of their lives. This percentage is around 82 percent. This also indicates that Toronto’s retention rate is far higher than that of other cities in Ontario.
This also justifies the reason behind a majority of immigrants already being established in Toronto. The record depicts that out of the already-established immigrants who arrived in the 1990s, 74.4 percent resided in Toronto.
In comparison to established immigrants, the recent immigrant proportion was greater in the following places:
- Kitchener-Cambridge-Waterloo – +1.8%;
- Hamilton – +0.6%,
- London – +1.5%; and
- Ottawa-Gatineau +2.1%.
Nevertheless, the data indicates that fewer immigrants now choose to settle in Ontario than at its peak of 59.6%. Although it was as low as 36.1% in 2017, the percentage has since risen to 42.5%.
If you seek information on how to begin your Canada immigration application process, you can talk to our MakeHomeCanada experts at 1-800-979-0509, or you can drop us an email at [email protected].
