Welcoming highly educated immigrants- a good economic policy

 

Edmonton - Allowing immigrants with good qualification is a good strategy for the growth of a nation’s economy and Quebec government needs to follow this.

This is keeping in view the fact that just like any other advanced economy, Quebec is facing the challenges of demographic declines leading to acute shortage of required workforce.

The scenario is going to worsen as the population of this Canadian province reaches old age.

Need for boosting Quebec immigration--Several business groups in Quebec say rather than cutting down annual immigration intake in Quebec, focus should be on allowing more immigrants into this Canadian province.

The provincial government must chalk out ways to increase immigration levels in Quebec to deal with the problem of scarcity of qualified and skilled workers here. It may be worth considerable that government of Quebec intends to cut immigration levels by around eight percent by 2015 from the current immigration levels.

And this has naturally invoked serious concerns from several business groups of Quebec. Hence, they have urged Quebec government to work towards improving the scene in the economy by lifting the limits on new immigrant arrivals in Quebec.

The current proportion of immigration in Quebec is only 19 percent of the total Canada immigration although Quebec has 23 percent of nation’s population, as per figures for the year 2010.

Quebec witnessed arrival of 11.6 percent of total temporary foreign workers arriving in Canada last year while Quebec accounted for 15 percent of total foreigners coming to Canada for studying here.

Quebec must improve job prospects for immigrants—Currently, the employment scene for new arrivals in Quebec is not very encouraging. And this is due to two factors, namely, delay in recognition of foreign credentials and poor work experience.

And the onus lies on not just the provincial government but also on Quebec employers for enabling new immigrants get integrated successfully into their new workplace easily.

President of Conseil du patronat, Yves Thomas feels need of the hour is to attract immigrant investors and skilled immigrant workers in Quebec.

Moreover, the province should work towards fast recognition of foreign credentials of immigrants to help them get jobs in accordance with their acquired qualifications, skills and work experience.

Government must reconsider its plans to cut its annual immigration rate and focus on increasing immigration levels at least for the next decade or so. Only then can Quebec cope up with exit of ageing baby boomers from the workforce.