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CIMM – CIMM 78.2 – Estimate on Express Entry program – December 05, 2023

IRCC’s response to a request for information made by the Standing Committee on Citizenship and Immigration on October 24,2023

Question

Mr. Tom Kmiec: Minister, in the first two months that you've been in the role, I noticed there was a decline in express entry admissions from the previous minister. The average was about 10,000 to 11,000 per quarter and now it's gone down to about 8,000 so far. Do you think there's any reason for this 3,000 drop?

Hon. Marc Miller: Look, we will have the ability over the coming months to clarify those figures. They may not be as accurate as you're portraying them to be.

Mr. Tom Kmiec: How come they're not accurate?

Hon. Marc Miller: My officials inform me there was an IT glitch. We look to fix and clarify that.

Mr. Tom Kmiec: Can you explain the IT glitch?

Ms. Christiane Fox: I think one of the reasons why...as you noted, with category based selection—now express entry—we have the capacity now to do targeted draws—draws for tradespeople, draws for francophone immigration—so we have this ability. I think that, at the onset of launching that, we ran into a few IT glitches and so we delayed a couple of the draws, but we're going to make them up as we go. In fact, in August we launched a draw that saw a skills trade draw—welders, construction workers—and that's 1,300 draws from the express entry pool.

We have another skills one coming before the end of December, so I think we're actively using these flexibilities that we have now on francophones, on health human resources and on tradespeople to try to address some of the gaps in the Canadian economy.

Mr. Tom Kmiec: Do you have an estimate on how many construction workers are coming in through the express entry program?

Ms. Christiane Fox: Over the last five years it's been 38,000, but I can give you specifics on draw to draw and what we're seeing. We'd be happy to share data in real time with you.

Mr. Tom Kmiec: Is that a commitment to share it with me in real time?

Ms. Christiane Fox: Yes.

Mr. Tom Kmiec: My next question is on the express entry schemes for construction workers. I'd just like to know what the numbers are for this year so far.

[…]

Ms. Christiane Fox: I think I've rhymed out some numbers here, and I can reiterate them.

There were 1,300 in the August draw for construction—for welders, machine operators and carpenters—so very specific trades, very specific NOC codes.

I would say that is complemented by what we're doing through the provincial nominee program—which has a skills component—what we're doing with the rural and northern immigration program and what we're doing with the Atlantic immigration program.

It's a combination of what the regional needs are, the provincial input and what the federal government can do. That's how you respond to the caps across the country.

Mr. Tom Kmiec: Is there a target for the end of year in terms of how many construction workers we've brought in through express entry and for next year?

Hon. Marc Miller: I wouldn't say really, we're actually looking to increase the policy authority so we are much more flexible, perhaps working with industry to make sure we are getting those NOC codes properly captured and perhaps sponsored by unions so we are expanding a lot of programs we have piloted, but to other parts of the country.

Mr. Tom Kmiec: Those numbers that were recited are far below...just in July, there were 45,000 construction jobs lost, so it doesn't sound like we're going to be able to offset those with new construction workers coming in.

Hon. Marc Miller: I mean, we're facing an aging of the population we need to address in that particular trade, Tom, and if your proposal is this should be done entirely through immigration, I probably wouldn't agree with you, but immigration is a huge part of this. We need to train people in country, people who are already here, so there's a component there we have to game for.

Mr. Tom Kmiec: That's why I was asking in the first round all those questions about construction workers, because if you hold the whole cabinetry on this one issue, I would have thought the numbers would have been compiled in preparation for that one meeting.

Response

There is an increasing number of construction workers receiving invitations to apply (ITAs) for permanent residence through the Express Entry System: in 2022, the Department issued 3,396 ITAs to individuals with work experience in construction, and in 2023 from January 1st to October 31st , the Department issued 7,202 ITAs.

In the third quarter of 2023 there was an increase in the number of ITAs issued to candidates in construction occupations, from 1,412 (Q2) to 3,204 (Q3), reflecting the implementation of Category-Based Selection (CBS) in summer 2023 contributed to this increase. More specifically, the trade occupations invitation round, which took place on August 3rd 2023 (In Annex A, see page 1 for more detailed round information and page 2 for the list of occupations in the construction sector - this list is based on the Canadian Occupation Classification System as well as key occupations from NOC 72 and 73 (e.g. welders)).

The eligible occupations for the Trade Occupation rounds were chosen based on Employment and Social Development Canada’s Canadian Occupation Projection System data on occupations that are expected to be in shortage between 2022 and 2031.

The 2023 target for the trades category in Express Entry is 3-4% of invitations to apply. Targets for 2024 are currently under consideration and will take into account labour market demand, as well as anticipated supply in the Express Entry pool.

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2024-04-03