Canada tried to solve its lack of skilled labor with immigration, but it’s having the opposite effect. A new report from the Institute for Canadian Citizenship (ICC), conducted by the Conference Board of Canada, reveals 1 in 5 immigrants that arrived from 1982 to 2019 have already left the country. Those most likely to leave also happen to be economic migrants, people Canada “hand-picked” to fill a skills gap. Failing to retain these workers doesn’t just widen the skill gap, but means the country is hemorrhaging cash to attract and train labor for other countries.
Canada Loses 1 In 5 Immigrants, A Third Within 5 Years
Canada is increasingly seeing its immigrants leave, especially those who the country targeted for skills. The analysis found that 1 in 5 immigrants moved onward over the period. Over a third of those who moved did so within the first five years. Let’s gloss over the fact that means a mass exodus might be coming soon, following the country’s rapid scale-up of immigration.
“Onward migration is a short- and long-term phenomenon. Immigrants are most likely to leave Canada three to seven years after arrival and, cumulatively…,” explains the ICC.
They further note, “We find that economic immigrants— those hand-selected for their unique ability to support Canada’s growth and development—are most likely to leave.”
Canada’s High-Skill Immigrants Are Most Likely To Leave
Highly skilled labor is targeted by virtually every country, so it’s no surprise that’s who is leaving Canada. About 48.1% of those who left arrived under an economic migration program, such as skilled trade programs, provincial nominees, or entrepreneur visas. It’s followed by those who arrived on family sponsorship (33.6%), and refugees (8.6%). All other programs combined made up just 9.7% of those who engaged onward migration.
Canada Is Squandering Big Bucks To Train Labor That Moves Abroad
Canada spends significant capital attracting immigrants, and facilitating integration. That cost is compounded through upskilling and training programs, with Canadian work experience being a valued asset in the global marketplace. When the country fails to retain this talent, it takes that investment with them.
“Investments in settlement and integration programs are lost. Depending on the age and stage at which immigrants leave, they also take their newly acquired experience and skills with them,” says the ICC.
Canada thought it could poach other countries’ investment in raising young adults. It turns out those countries are poaching Canada’s significant investment in training skilled labor. Whoops.
This analysis helps build a better understanding of our previous analysis, which found Canada overestimates its immigrant retention. We found a sharp drop off in the volume of immigrants the country can track through tax filings and social benefits. They may still be counted as residents, since a person needs to declare and pay an exit tax before Canada acknowledges they left the country. This point may help to further explain why rental vacancies in cities like Toronto are on the rise, despite the near-record population inflows.
Canada has long been able to attract immigrants as a place that provides a firm foundation for settling down. It’s begun coasting on that reputation, with the predatory belief that people will simply be happy to live in Canada. That may be true in some cases, but as the rest of the world becomes more developed, they compete for the highest skilled labor. It’s unclear if Canada’s policymakers even know they’re in a competition.
First comes the higher home prices, then the brain drain, then the unemployment, austerity, and home price stagnation.
The average person is simply not capable of remembering the lessons of past generations.
My family emmigrated to Canada over 40 years ago. I have been a carpenter and a fisherman for a good part of my working career since I was 14 years old. I am now in my 50’s and am considering moving out of Canada and taking my money and my skills to another country now.
Of course they’re leaving , the freebies are running out.
High skill immigrant programs usually require incomes higher than local, so they weren’t benefiting at all tbh. They were probably tired of making 6-figures and living in worse conditions than they would in most developing countries.
What Canada is retaining are the ones without options that top up and pay for housing as a part of immigration. Keep in mind it was never like this until Ukraine needed a mass migration, then they did it but under a different category so it wasn’t in the same direct refugee stats. Nice of them, eh?
Read the article again – it refers to highly skilled immigrants.
Highly skilled immigrants do not rely on freebies, instead they pay taxes so you can have your freebies.
Did you read the text or at least the headline? It talks about high-skilled workers, generally people that make 6 figures. Based on your lack of basic text interpretation skills, it seems it is a subset of population you don’t belong to.
I wonder about the accuracy of any of these numbers from StatsCan… Does anyone believe anything that comes out of StatsCan?!
Because they stopped filing does not mean they left…. maybe they are just not filing… not reporting income… a common practice in many countries from which we get immigrants.
“Investments in settlement and integration programs are lost”… what investment? I am sure there a big budgets for this but it has no impact… so that money is long lost in terms of value.
Whatever the reason… If people want to leave let them go…. they are not interested in building Canada!
Frankly, we should launch a program to pay people to leave… weed out the chaff as it were.
As Ujjal Dosanj once said in a CBC interview…” not everyone with citizenship is a citizen”! Many are net “takers” and when they have extracted enough they leave.
Gresham’s Law: Bad money drives out the good money in circulation.
Similarly, bad immigrants tend to drive out the good immigrants.
For e.g., it is not the fault of a long term immigrant who escaped from his/her hell-hole many many years ago and built a successful life in Canada to be left wondering – “what was the point of it all if Canada was going to become just another hell-hole? Might as well go back to their original hell-hole, sell the expensive house here and buy multiple properties back home at fraction of the cost. Cost of living is also cheaper there and their own countries have advanced considerably and probably have better weather. Only health-care is the incentive here and that too is going down the drain.
Accurate article and a clear warning to policy makers to get off their high horse and do something.
This is all the more reason to INCREASE numbers!! Increase international students and others.
Also rates should be dropped to 0%
How come you never show my comments Stephen
How many comments did you leave because it’s above?
I know at my work comments get flagged by WordPress Akismet for manual review a lot. They use data from all WP Akismet users, so it assigns a risk score based on a bunch of sites that can be anything from multiple names to an email or using a VPN. I think of all people, free-speech-stephen the lazer-eyed bitcoiner probably isn’t censoring you, though there’s a high probability he’s not the person who reads this.
This was a problem since 20 years ago.
W5 did a documentary back then about skilled professionals who were accountants and surgeons in developed countries, but when they arrived yo Canada all they could get were general labor jobs.
A lady who was interviewed sternly said that they were promised a job in their fields and didn’t want to go on welfare. They were told a lie.
I recall that too. Right before the Great Recession we had another one of those inflows and brain drain cycles like in the 90s.
Interesting report, although I don’t get the impression anyone who compiled it actually spent much time speaking to immigrants about their experiences.
When I immigrated to Canada (from the UK) a couple of years before the pandemic, I attended a bunch of government-run workshops that were full of high-skill immigrants working at Tim’s, driving an Uber or living off their savings because employers are gun-shy about hiring anyone without Canadian experience. A lot of the workshop sessions were about practicing your interview skills while working a survival job to prove you can fit in with Canadian workplace culture.
My first question after reading the report is: how many immigrants never managed to re-establish themselves professionally and eventually gave up? As for the immigrants who started on study permits, given how much international students pay in tuition fees, I’m pretty sure Canadian institutions got the better end of that deal.
I think that’s a different problem. They’re discussing people who arrive with job offers for high skilled jobs, and leave without transitioning to permanent residency.
No doubt that a lot of people coming on family sponsorship or refugee visas arrive and have a hard time finding a foot in the door. Happens to kids here that graduate from important programs too. There’s just not a lot of industry because everything is SO real estate focused, so we end up with a lack of development in other industries.
A lot of stories in the news from the recent Ukrainian inflow of people that left for onward migration because they couldn’t believe how much harder life is here.
No, you don’t need a job offer to immigrate under the Federal Skilled Worker program. I don’t think you need one under the Provincial Nominee programs either, although I never looked closely at those.
A lot of permanent residents in economic immigration classes are seriously underemployed in Canada. I met one woman who was a telecoms engineer with a decade of experience in her home country but couldn’t get any work more technical than cleaning people’s houses.
They’re leaving because they can’t afford to live here on the measly salaries that are offered, or cope with the punishing taxes which deliver no real benefits and prop up a bloated, ineffective and inefficient bureaucracy.
Canada – a three star country charging five star prices. Born and raised, looking for alternatives as the trend is not our friend. We are headed for a dumpster fire of a future.
How many of the 5 actually planned on leaving Canada within 5 years after they arrived? I work in the highly skilled job market in Canada and can get a 50% wage increase just by moving South of the Border. I’ve lived and worked in the states, didn’t like it as much as Canada. Most of my fellow employees, many of whom moved to Canada in the last 5 years, dream of getting a job in the US. Higher pay, less taxes. Canada is just one step closer to their goal. A place to get some western experience. They learn the skills, top up their online profiles. Governments should stop subsidizing an economy that revolves around oil, housing, lumber, farming and mining. Stop subsidizing tech made outside Canada. Why are $9000 of my tax dollars being give to Elon so my neighbor can buy a Model 3 made in Fremont. Or a Hyundai!
I’m not sure that all Canadians have a good picture of how a high-skilled immigrant lives, or any immigrant at all. I am a high-skilled worker who landed in Canada 7 years ago, and I still don’t have a PR yet. As an immigrant, I pay loads more taxes than any citizen.
I pay higher interest rates than a Canadian citizen for a lot of things, like mortgages. I pay 3 to 4 times more for my son’s college education, for no understandable reason at all. I am just helping to fund Canada more than the ordinary citizen.
Violence, prices, inflation, rent, and the general cost of living have all gone up. So, if you don’t have a family or heritage here, it makes much more sense for you, as an immigrant, to go to another country.
I am here because I (still) like living here and my kids were raised here. But honestly, we would be having a better (and warmer) time in my home country.
The gov should work smarter with immigration programs. I have a fixed job, and the same Job for 7 years, I have a good Score on Language tests, i pay a lot of Taxes, and the country stills make my life here MUCH harder than it should be.