Toronto is Impressive by adding 80,000 Tech Jobs in Past Five Years

Toronto has moved into the third spot among the annual top 50 U.S. and Canadian tech talent market based on a new talent ranking.  

This was the finding of CBRE Scoring Tech Talent Report, which allots a rank to 50 tech markets in the U.S. and Canada. It is carried out on 13 metrics.

The top spot was of San Francisco Bay Area and Seattle was at the second spot. Toronto was the top city overall for brain gain, after the addition of 80,100 tech jobs after 2013. This was an increase of 54 percent in the pool of tech talent. Moreover, this clearly shows the great impact of the tech sector on Toronto.

Toronto, apart from San Francisco and Seattle are successfully attracting the best talent available in the industry.

Vancouver was the Other Canadian city that also gave an impressive performance and stood at the 12th place. Montreal was at 13 and, Ottawa at 19th spot.

Immigration programs address growing tech needs. The growth is rapid and there is a call for improved access to global IT talent to meet the labor shortages.

The federal government carries out the system of Express Entry in Canada for attracting skilled overseas workers and IT professionals. It is on top of the list to send the invitations to apply in seeking the permanent residence in Canada.

The top occupations for Express Entry candidates receiving the invitations during 2018 were:

Occupation is not a norm while selecting candidates in Express Entry, who get a rank based on the score for skilled work experience, age, education, and language proficiency. The Government invites a fixed number of the top ranking candidates to submit the application while seeking the permanent residence in Canada through Express Entry draws.

Provincial nominee programs are ideal for tech workers, who have a CRS score that is below the draw of Express Entry, to seek permanent residence.

All the candidates in Express Entry who get the provincial nomination receive 600 CRS points additionally and move ahead for applying to the federal invitation. Moreover, there are options with a tech-focus in several provincial nominee programs.

Tech Draws permit the Ontario Immigration Nominee Program in searching the federal EE pool for such candidates who have the necessary work experience for doing six tech occupations.

Its first draw was held on July 12, 2019, and provided 1,623 invitations to the EE candidates who had the CRS scores in the range between 439 and 459. An Ontario job offer was not required.

The MPNP has included quite a few positions for tech workers in its Natural and applied scientists and related occupations in the In-Demand Occupation List. Candidates working in these top demand occupations get a priority in receiving the invitation to apply for provincial nominations through regular draws conducted for skilled candidates.

The MPNP reduced language requirements applied for computer network technicians from the previous Canadian Language Benchmark 7 to present 5, making the ITA easy to obtain.

Also in Saskatchewan, there was a recent addition of computer programmers and interactive media developers in the list of top demand occupations for Saskatchewan Immigrant Nominee Program.

Work experience in the occupation, appearing on the list, is necessary, to get an invitation to apply, in the provincial nomination, in the Express Entry, as well as Occupation In-Demand sub-categories, of SINP. A Job Offer from a local employer is not necessary.

British Columbia Provincial Nominee Program Tech Pilot also conducts weekly invitation rounds attracting the tech workers by providing the eligible job offer from a local employer in 29 occupations related to technology.  The two-year trial period of the Tech Pilot was extended twice, and presently the program will run, till June 2020.

Canada has also adopted the Global Skills Strategy and manages the Global Talent Stream. It is very advantageous for Tech companies and top skilled overseas workers. Moreover, it allows companies in Canada to access temporary overseas talent in qualified occupations in a quick way through the processing within two-weeks for work permits and Labor Market Impact Assessment. Additionally this Global Talent Stream covers jobs like computer programmers/engineers, software designers/engineers and web developers/designers.

Since 2017, the Global Talent Stream has hired 24,000 temporary overseas workers. Accessing the top skilled tech talent is of great importance to Canadian companies to reach the global standards. The Global Talent Stream serves as evidence that governments must press for meeting the need for tech talent

Innovators and stake holders in Ontario hope that the Global Skills Strategy, and the Ontario Immigrant Nominee Program, will help the provincial tech firms, to access top skilled talent that is necessary for the growth and expansion in Canada.