2014 CICan's Immigrant Integration Symposium

1. Improving skilled immigrant employment outcomes through
strengthened government-employer engagement.
Brokering Success

2. Today’s presentation
1
ANDREW GALLEY – Policy Associate, Mowat Centre
• Review the study’s results and recommendations
• Colleges were not a focus…
• … but the connections are there.
• Q&A can help bring this to the fore.

3. About the Mowat Centre
2
• Launched in 2010 and part of the School of Public Policy &
Governance, University of Toronto.
• Research intergovernmental public policy issues (national, continental,
global) from Ontario’s perspective.
• Other research areas: State transformation, Energy and Not for Profit
policy.
Mowat Centre research is:
• Independent and non-partisan.
• Focused on the federal policy frameworks and strategies that will most
strongly affect Ontario's prosperity and quality of life in the next
century.
• Comparative, evidence-based, and grounded in an understanding of
how Canadian governments work.

4. 3
At an estimated price tag of
$11.37 billion per year in
unrealized earnings, we can ill-
afford to continue discounting the
qualifications and experience of
immigrants to Canada.

5. 4
 How do governments engage with employers on
the issue of employing skilled immigrants?
 What tools do governments have at their disposal
to improve this engagement and its outcomes?
 80 interviews, across 10 provinces, with
governments, employers, not-for-profits and
immigrant employment councils.
The study

6. Framing the Landscape
5

7. 6
 Skilled recent immigrants have an unemployment rate four
times that of Canadian-born peers.
 The income and employment gap is getting harder to
overcome.
 Since 2008, Labour Market Agreements have fostered a
more demand-led approach to supports.
 New Express Entry and Canada Job Grants depend on
employer leadership.
 Want to make sure small and medium employers aren’t left
out of the conversation.
Framing the Landscape

8. 7
Levers for government-
employer engagement

9. 8
 Legislation and Policy
 Economic Development Offices
 Funding Employment and
Settlement Services
 Intermediaries

10. 9
Legislation and policy
Government and employers engage in two ways on this issue:
 Immigration entry streams
 Employers know and use “two-step” classes (TFW to PNP, Students
with CEC).
 Employers often seeking speed and local market fit, more than lower
wages or short-term hiring.
Equity legislation, protection for workers
 Equity works, though not for everyone; hard to expand.
 Manitoba’s WRAPA model: employers must engage through
licensing, but receive extra services.

11. 10
Economic development offices
and employer outreach
Local government engages with employers through economic
development work, which is mostly about business attraction and
retention.
 Economic development officers have one-on-one contact with
employers.
 These officers can be first point of contact for accessing
government programs, meeting requirements, using supports.
 But, economic development work is often regarded as separate
from employment and workforce planning.

12. 11
Funding of employment and
settlement services
Government funds services that bridge skilled immigrants
into employment, delivered by the non-profit sector:
 Short-term wage subsidies, mentoring, skills bridging.
 Instability and constant change a problem.
 Employers are interested in settlement and integration as
employment benefit.
 Marketing settlement services at subsidized rates to
business.

13. 12
Intermediaries
Governments engage with employers through representative
organizations:
 Sector Councils
 Professional and Industry Associations
 Business Councils, Boards of Trade, IECs
Advantages include:
 Sector-specific knowledge, labour market info
 A consistent network of employers over time
But: Searching for a sustainable funding model

14. 13
Colleges and Institutes
• Experience with employer engagement
• Local networks with longevity and trust
• In addition to skills taught, exploring post-degree
bridging concept
• Key is adapting know-how
• Post-secondary institutions also anchoring
regional economic networks, downtowns.

15. 14
Principles for Action

16. 15
Adapt to local needs
 Recognize Canada’s regionally-segmented labour market
 Culture matters, too: Equity in Quebec versus Ontario
 Provinces small and large: make employer engagement
as direct as possible
• Economic development officers where feasible
• Otherwise, intermediaries such as sector councils
 Incent employers to develop their own solutions

17. 16
Support smaller enterprises
 Engaging large employers can become the path of
least resistance.
 Important to include a strategy for SMEs early in the
development of new programs.
 Combine levers: for example, intermediaries helping
SMEs access funded supports.
 Governments should aim to benefit those who do
engage with greater efficiency: WRAPA regulatory
obligation leads to talent solutions.

18. 17
Build a common language
 Seek intermediaries, such as business
organizations and economic development officers,
who speak the language of business.
 Encourage employers to more concretely define
skills and qualifications to get past the “Canadian
experience” barrier.
 Competency-based language can also improve
labour market information.

19. 18
Promote stability
 Keeping up with frequent, disruptive policy changes
can cause employer disengagement.
 Anxieties around the shape of the Canada Jobs
Grant are an example of this.
 Long-term stability of program branding, design is
key to developing relationships of trust.
 Should fix things that don’t work, but if something is
working, keep doing it!

20. 19
Recommendations

21. 1) Governments should develop clear
strategies for engaging employers, as part
of their labour market policy and
employment program development.
20

22. 2) Governments should use a more
integrated, whole-of-government
approach to workforce development that
involves economic development offices.
21

23. 3) Governments should undertake more
rigorous analyses of the return-on-
investment of business retention
programs. They should invest further in
those shown to work.
22

24. 4)As the Canada Jobs Funds are
implemented, provinces should ensure
they have rigorous metrics for evaluating
the effects of the Canada Job Grant and
other supports.
23

25. 5) Governments should reduce the
reliance on temporary foreign worker
recruitment by supporting more avenues
for recruiting skilled labour, including that
of permanent immigrants already in
Canada.
24

26. 6) Provinces should expand the
Manitoba/WRAPA model of recruiter
licensing and registration.
25

27. 7) Governments, in partnership with
industry and professional associations,
should develop locally-specific labour
market information.
26

28. 8) Provinces need to better engage with
employers to understand their needs.
27

29. 9) Local governments should pilot
programs to incentivize employer
engagement through existing channels
such as business licensing.
28

30. 10) Employers should provide feedback to
government about the supports that work
for them, and advocate for sustaining
successful programs.
29

31. Stay Connected
Thank you