What Is Labour Market Assessment Canada?

Author: Bharath Khan

What is LMIA? Labour Market Impact Assessment or LMIA (in the past known as LMO or Labor Market Opinion) is a letter (sometimes called Confirmation letter) issued by one department of the federal government of Canada. Canadian employers require LMIA on the off chance that they need to procure a temporary foreign worker (TFW). There are not very many special cases to that rule.

At the point when Canadian government (Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC) some time ago known as HRSDC - Human Resources and Skills Development Canada) issues a positive or neutral LMIA that fundamentally means they are satisfied that:

  • Canadian manager, in fact, needs a worker for their business operation? Canadian manager has attempted to employ Canadian subject or perpetual resident, however, no qualified candidates were accessible to fill the empty position? Canadian employer will prepare Canadian citizens or permanent residents however that isn't possible or feasible in given conditions? Canadian boss will finish and submit Transition Plan if the wage offered is at, or over the common/regional middle time-based compensation? Canadian business is hiring a temporary foreign worker on a temporary basis (until that time when local candidates are available)? Bringing a foreign worker to Canada will probably have either neutral or positive effect on the Canadian labor market

Temporary Foreign Workers

At the present time (mid-2014) there are more than 330 000 temporary foreign workers in Canada. They are contracted by both large and small Canadian companies. They work in skilled occupations, semi-skilled and low-skilled occupations, they are managers and supervisors. The number of foreign workers about tripled in the previous ten years.

As a rule, temporary foreign workers are attached to the specific job and the specific employer.

Despite the relatively high joblessness rates in Canada, it is clear that Canadian employers vigorously depend on universally trained workers. That pattern is probably going to continue as baby-boomers retire, Canadian workforce ages and the quantity youthful workers entering the work drive is declining.

Foreign workers require a work permit in order to take jobs in Canada (again, there are very few exceptions to this rule as well). Without LMIA their applications for the work permit would be refused. Therefore Canadian managers must secure LMIA for them before foreign workers apply for their work permits and come to Canada to work.

Tens of thousands of LMIA (LMO) applications get approved and denied by ESDC every year.

Advantages Why would you want to hire a foreign worker, after all?

To the extent Canadian government (Service Canada) is worried by and large that could be just for two reasons:

1. Since you, Canadian manager, truly require a worker to fill an empty position, and 2. In the wake of attempting you have not possessed the capacity to discover such a man among Canadian citizens and permanent residents of Canada.

However, there is another, from employers' point of view, much more important reason:

Foreign workers are great and reliable workers on the grounds that foreign workers wager their future and the eventual fate of their families on this job!

For them, stakes couldn't be higher. They realize that they need to do the job well, work hard and show loyalty to the employer since they don't have much decision - by and large work grants are boss particular and occupation particular which means foreign workers can work just in one occupation and just for one employer.

Essentially all foreign workers need to remain in Canada indefinitely and they need to get their families also. They can do that in the event that they have a job in Canada (see the picture to the right). The migration procedure may take now and again two years, during that time they need to maintain their employment status (as a rule). Hence foreign workers are reliable workforce.

Unlike Canadian employees foreign workers don't depend on a liberal supply of free money, for example, employment insurance, social assistance, support from close relatives etc. Canadian worker can leave the place of employment whenever, get a note from the specialist expressing he can't work for a month or two and he is probably going to meet all requirements for EI sickness benefits of 15 weeks. After that, they can apply for federally funded training and further expand their benefits. Foreign workers just depend at work they have in light of the fact that that activity is the way to their future.

Why not unemployed Canadians?

With current joblessness rate in Canada of more than 7%, may inquire as to how can it be that Canadian employers are not ready to find qualified candidates among Canadian citizens and permanent residents in Canada?

That is generally in light of the fact that specific locales in Canada (mostly Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba) and certain industries (construction, mining etc.) have been confronting unending deficiency of skilled labor, for instance, skilled trades workers. Workers from eastern parts of Canada are not continually ready to move or regardless of the possibility that they do, they tend to return back home after some time, leaving vacant positions behind them.

The Canadian population is getting older, the normal age in Canada as per 2013 registration is 41.2. Approximately 33% of the populace is beyond 55 years old. With each passing year number of senior citizens will increment. The fertility rate is declining for the third year in succession tumbling to only 1.61 children per woman in 2011. Statistics Canada indicates Canada has not met the populace substitution level of about 2.1 children per woman since 1971.

Youth joblessness in Canada stands at around 15% which is two times higher than joblessness rate for Canadians aged over 25. Why is that? Since Canadian secondary schools give youngsters just two types of skills: one is to conform to the social norms without asking any questions and the second one is the skill of positive thinking. It takes several years for some youngsters to understand that neither one of those two skills alone will land them a good job (good meaning one which will allow them to rent an apartment on their own, as opposed to living with several roommates).

Many European secondary schools give professional preparing so secondary school graduates have some attractive skills, this isn't the situation in Canada. Why? Since secondary school is free, the designers of the educational system want Canadian young adults to enslave themselves with (student loan) debt at the early age, for what reason would they give out a valuable arrangement of abilities for nothing? It is considerably more profitable to import officially already skilled workers from different countries without investing anything in their education.

Challenges

Hiring a foreign worker does not come without a unique set of challenges. These are the main ones:

1. Process may be daunting for many employers - first employers need to apply for LMIA and after that foreign workers must get work allow. This process may take 4-6 months 2. Language skills - most foreign workers have working knowledge of English anyway it might take over a year prior to they gain order of colloquial language 3. Soft-skills - Canadian work environment has certain unique, unspoken cultural norms/etiquette. Acing those rules is often referred to as soft-skills. Many foreign job seekers and newcomers alike experience a considerable measure of dissatisfaction since they don't comprehend the significance of delicate abilities. Many foreign workers imagine that their work experience and educational credentials alone makes them a suitable candidate for a position, neglecting the importance and role of so-called soft-skills.

These challenges should not be overestimated: we can help you to apply for LMIA and we can help foreign workers with their application for work permit. Now and again foreign workers can apply for work allow at the port of section to Canada (airports in most cases) and the entire procedure of Work Permit application may take 30 minutes or somewhere in the vicinity. This is, for example, the case with nationals of Croatia.

Canadian bosses ought not to be excessively worried about focuses two and three either in light of the fact that at introduce time (2013) a huge number of Canadian businesses, of all shapes and sizes, exploit the Temporary Foreign Workers Program and dialect and delicate abilities issues don't have all the earmarks of being a noteworthy issue by any stretch of the imagination.

What Canadian employers do

In the course of preparation for LMIA application Canadian employers normally do the following:

1. Attempt to enlist Canadian citizens or perpetual residents of Canada to fill vacant position, 2. Attempt to prepare Canadian citizens or permanent residents of Canada to fill vacant position (if possible and feasible), 3. Direct consultations with the union in regards to employer's plans to hire a foreign worker (if applicable), 4. Clearly, build up if any federal or provincial certification or licensing is required for the vacant position, 5. Set up the appropriate wage for the vacant position, 6. Decide how the wage offered to the TFW relates to the provincial/territorial median hourly wage, based on Statistics Canada’s Labour Force Survey (2013),7. Set up what education/training is required for the vacant position, 8. Establish how much of directly related work experience is required for the vacant position, 9. Get ready job description for the vacant position which will be utilized as a part of the activity advertisements, 10. Make Job Bank account and verify employer's account by sending PD7A form to Service Canada,

11. Make Job Bank job promotion by looking at pre-recorded choices on the Service Canada site, 12. Get ready occupation promotions and publicize the vacant position,

13. Gather continues and introductory letters sent by the candidates,

14. Review all received continues and introductory letters and select possibility for job interviews,

15. Reach selected candidates and conduct preliminary job interviews (often it turns out some of the applicants are not actually interested in the position, or they did not read the job ad carefully and have, for example, incompatible salary expectations).For more details click here Labour Market Assessment Canada