Immigrants

Jobs Dept: In the short term, faced with a projected record number of retirements, we are increasingly turning to immigrants to fill the employment gap. According to Emploi-Qu bec, 730,000 positions will have to be filled by 2015, and the prediction is that 16 per cent of those jobs will be filled by immigrants. That number jumps to 1.4 million jobs in 2020, with 17 per cent of these jobs to be filled by immigrants, according to Montreal Gazette. The first step is recruitment. We currently welcome approximately 50,000 immigrants annually. Of these, about 70 per cent are classified as economic immigrants. It is important to note that we have adjusted our selection grid in order to better match immigrants' profiles with the needs of our job market and accelerate their immigration to Quebec and as The Gazette pointed out in a recent editorial "In the census data, some warnings for Quebec," Feb. 9 , the aging of the baby boomers and their ongoing withdrawal from the workforce present significant challenges for Quebec, as they do for jurisdictions across North America. The Quebec government is working hard to meet this challenge head-on, putting in place policies and procedures to attract and retain qualified new Quebecers. Ultimately, however, this has to be a societal project, and success depends on our partnering with businesses, universities and CEGEPS, and other key stakeholders. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.