Immigration.ca - Canada Immigration News - January 2012
Officials in British Columbia continue to sound the alarm over the looming labour shortage that threatens to deride the region�s economy once the baby-boomer generation retires.
In the latest attempt to address the situation, the provincial government has established an immigration task force to travel throughout B.C. to ascertain the employment needs.
"There's no doubt B.C. needs more economic immigrants," said B.C. MLA John Yap who will be leading the task force. "We are losing one million people from the workforce in the near future due to retirement and we only have 650,000 people to fill the need.�
Though the province has been among the top in Canada in attracting newcomers, employers, politicians and citizens seem to be growing increasingly concerned about the labour shortages.
Yap and his task force will travel throughout the province speaking to these concerned groups about the situation and prepare a report for B.C. Premier Christy Clark by March.
"What appears to be happening is businesses that hire new immigrants are seeing a high turnover rate because the immigrants take entry-level jobs when they first arrive and then look around for better work,� said Yap.
He says that the Provincial Nominee Program has been a success in attracting the skilled labour needed, but that current immigration rates are not going to fill the 650,000 positions that will be vacant shortly.
Source: Canada.com
