Skills Shortage: Immigration and Labour Force

skills shortage: In British Columbia alone, a million-plus job openings are expected by 2019 and more than three-quarters of those will require postsecondary education, according to Globe and Mail. Immigration is but one of several policy options available to the government to cushion the impact of a growing skills shortage and an aging population. Over the next decade, Canada will have a shortage of about two million skilled workers, in a work force of about 18 million people today. For that reason, Immigration Minister John McCallum is on the right track in announcing increased immigration targets of 300,000 for 2017, one of the most ambitious targets in more than a century. The balance are dependents, who may or may not enter the labour force at some point. Within that target, the number of economic immigrants has been increased to 172,000, but just over half of those will be principal applicants. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.