Faced with a major labor shortage that is curbing its economic momentum, Québec will have to look more abroad to meet the needs of entrepreneurs in the years to come.
One of the means chosen to meet the pressing demand of employers will therefore be to hope to recruit 3,000 workers from different countries in the coming year, a phenomenon that is likely to increase in the coming years. This is double the number of recruits from last year.
The announcement was made Monday, at a press conference in Quebec, by the Minister of Employment, Jean Boulet, who is also Minister of Immigration.
In the coming months, Québec will therefore organize 17 “Québec Days”, recruitment missions in as many countries, events in which interested employers will be able to participate. The priority will be for French-speaking or Francophile countries, including France and Morocco, in particular, which should facilitate and accelerate the integration of recruits, and hopefully, their establishment in Quebec.
Priority will be given to the sectors of activity where the needs are greatest in the short term, such as information technology, engineering, the construction industry, health and daycare services. But we will also try not to neglect other sectors such as hotels and restaurants, greatly affected by two years of pandemic in terms of loss of staff and difficulty in recruiting.
The labor shortage in Quebec is “acute” in all sectors of activity and in all regions, agreed Minister Boulet, who anticipates no less than 1.4 million positions to be filled by 2030. . In this context of general scarcity, “immigration is one of the options available to businesses,” he said, an option that is likely to take on increasing importance over the years.
However, the government does not plan to revise upwards Quebec’s immigration thresholds, maintained at around 50,000 newcomers annually.
The government initiative announced Monday is carried out in collaboration with Quebec International, Montreal International and the Drummondville Economic Development Corporation.