Recruiting Immigrant Workers: Canada 2019 by OECD

Author:OECD
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: employment/socialissues
Publisher: OECD Publishing
Published: 2019-08-13T00:00:00+00:00

Barriers for immigrants’ access to regulated professions should be reduced and information exchange improved

A particular challenge is the access to regulated/licenced occupations. Occupational regulation aims to protect the public by ensuring quality standards, but at the same time creates barriers to entry into occupations and hence risks monopoly costs. In occupations that do not require foreign credential recognition, employers are responsible for making sure a potential employee has the appropriate qualifications, training and experience. Procedures for licencing in regulated professions tend to be complex and involve a variety of different stakeholders, depending on the province and the profession concerned. Occupational licensing not only ensures that migrants can work in the occupation for which they have been trained, this better job matching is also associated with higher wages (Gomez et al., 2015[35]).

In this respect, it is important to note that all applicants to the FSW with foreign education and those who want to earn points for their education in the CRS need an assessment of their credentials, a so called Education Credential Assessment (ECA).31 Such an assessment is a report by an independent company that evaluates foreign education. Currently, IRCC has designated five professional bodies to provide ECA and two bodies for specific occupations.32 Processing times and costs vary between these bodies.

For Express Entry, this report attests that a foreign degree, diploma and/or certificate is valid and equal to a Canadian one. In general, an assessment of the highest level of education is sufficient, unless applicants want to earn points for two or more credentials, in which case both need to be assessed (see section on step one of Express Entry above).

It is important to note that an ECA for migration purposes is not a formal procedure for foreign qualification recognition (FQR). Obtaining an ECA does not allow for access to regulated professions.33

In Canada’s federal system, foreign qualification recognition (FQR) procedures are largely with the provinces and territories. Within these, responsibility has been delegated to over 600 regulatory bodies and apprenticeship authorities, overseeing more than 650 regulated occupations. What is more, some occupations are regulated in some provinces but not in others. Applicants are expected to contact the regulatory body in the province or territory where they plan to settle, to find out if they need a licence to practice in their intended occupation. However, anecdotal evidence suggests that individuals have rarely done this in the past (Johnson and Baumal, 2016[36]).

Acknowledging these challenges, the Forum of Labour Market Ministers, consisting of representatives from federal, provincial and territorial bodies, launched the Pan-Canadian Framework for the Assessment and Recognition of Foreign Credentials in 2009. The Framework initially targeted a short list of regulated occupations, but it has been expanded in recent years (FLMM, 2014[33]) to cover more than 90% of the occupations of those newcomers landing in Canada every year. The Framework spans the steps individuals face as they move through the licencing process, including pre-arrival supports and services. The assessment stage typically includes a verification of authenticity of academic credentials and the

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