Are Employers Undermining the Canadian Immigration System? Exploring the Gap Between Skilled Immigration Policy Objectives and Employer Practices

This study sought to understand the relationship between skilled immigration policy objectives and employer hiring practices using an online survey of 706 private sector hiring managers across Canada. The findings show that recruitment and selection decisions are complex; decisions to hire skilled newcomers (or not) are more related to organizational norms, cultural distinctions and hiring manager competence, confidence, demographics and risk perceptions than they are to assessments of newcomers’ skills. Regardless of whether a skilled immigrant candidate was recently hired, hiring manager assessments of immigrants’ knowledge, skills and abilities were, on average, favorable. Given that governments prioritize skills in immigration policy, while employers’ hiring decisions are much more strongly influenced by other factors, there is a clear misalignment between policy objectives and employer practices. To address this gap and advance social resilience, this study finds governments and employers must assume greater responsibility for the workforce integration of skilled immigrants.