It is obvious that employers play an important role in integrating internationally-trained workers into the Canadian labour force. As employers seek to meet their staffing needs, and to find the best talent and skills to staff their organizations, employers have an important stake in attracting, recruiting, and retaining internationally-trained workers.
What’s in it for employers?
The importance of immigration and the integration of internationally-trained workers to meet labour force needs in Canada are described in What is the issue?
Internationally-trained workers can not only help employers meet staffing needs, but their skills and talents and fresh perspectives can increase an organization’s effectiveness. Many internationally-trained workers also have the connections and knowledge to help organizations develop new relationships and markets both locally and globally.
The following links provide more information on why the labour market integration of internationally-trained workers is of interest to employers.
TASC Fact Sheet: Immigrants and the Workforce: A Statistical Snapshot
Why hire immigrants?
This section of the website hireimmigrants.ca, an initiative of the Toronto Region Immigrant Employment Council, explains the business drivers for hiring immigrants.
Toronto Region Immigrant Employment Council press kit
The press kit available at this site provides useful backgrounders and fact sheets on immigration, immigrants, and labour markets.
The Business Case
This chapter in the Employer Resource Guide produced by The Looking Ahead Initiative, a community-based project in British Columbia, explains why diverse hiring practices are good business practices.
Take a Look at What’s Working: Internationally Trained Workers in Canada
This report presents cases of companies in Ontario that have successfully hired internationally-trained workers.
Handbook on Immigration & Skill Shortages, Canadian Labour & Business Centre
This handbook draws attention to the factors affecting successful integration and utilization of immigrant skills, and to aspects of Canada’s immigration policies and practices.
Immigration and Small Business: Ideas to Better Respond to Canada’s Skills and Labour Shortage
This research report produced by the Canadian Federation of Independent Business examines the growing challenge of skills and labour shortages in small business, Canada’s immigration system and the experience of small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in hiring new immigrants.
Engaging employers
The links below provide information on the development of initiatives to promote the engagement of employers in the labour market integration of internationally-trained workers.
Bringing Employers Into the Immigration Debate
This is the report on a multi-phased research project undertaken by the Public Policy Forum to better understand how to engage employers in the immigration debate. The report provides recommendations to assist employers in addressing challenges in becoming engaged, as well as highlighting several other areas for future research and action.
Pan-Canadian Sector Council & Immigrant Dialogue: Barriers Affecting the Integration of Non-Regulated Occupation Immigrants into the Canadian Labour Market
This report describes findings of a project led by the The Canadian Coalition of Community-Based Employability Training (CCCBET) that identified specific issues and barriers preventing the integration of non-regulated occupation immigrants and refugees into the Canadian workforce.
Helping Employers Recruit and Retain Internationally-Trained Workers
This documents reports on a workshop delivered by The Alliance of Sector Councils to provide sector councils with information and tools that they can use to assist employers in their industries to recruit and retain internationally-trained workers.