In: Economics
Mississauga Chamber of Commerce President's Speech
"Hiring Immigrants Makes Good Business Sense"
May 28, 2020
Good morning and welcome to this morning's event in Mississauga, aimed to speak with employers
in our city about the benefit of hiring new immigrants.
I want you to picture in your heads this scenario:
• People in the Canadian workforce are aging and retiring at a rapid rate.
• Birth rates have been dropping for decades, so there are less people to fill important positions
in your organizations.
• The pool of working age population is shrinking.
• Not only is it shrinking, but the skills of the working age population are less than what is
needed to fill the increasing number of positions in your organization and others that require a
high level of skills.
• The education system is and has not been able to produce the number of skilled employees
needed to fill many job vacancies.
• Your business and organization is likely suffering, because you don't have the skilled labour
you need to sustain and grow.
• However, there is a large pool of well educated, experienced and skilled immigrants that are
readily available here in our community to help meet your labour needs.
Today, employers in Canada and Ontario are facing a labour shortage crises. We have a great
opportunity to begin addressing it, if employers can make a strong effort in hiring and successfully
integrating skilled immigrants into our workplaces.
I have had the pleasure of volunteering to mentor skilled immigrants. Through that experience I
began to learn of the tremendous challenges that thousands of skilled immigrants that arrive annually
to our community experience. I also gained an appreciation for their determination to succeed
professionally, to provide opportunities for their families to have a good quality of life, and to
contribute to our economy and society.
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As President of the Mississauga Chamber of Commerce, I also heard from employers about their
challenges attracting and retaining skilled employees.
It is evident that more needs to be done to better connect skilled immigrants with employers seeking
skilled employees.
Our various levels of government should be commended for investing in valuable programs and
services to support newcomers that are being delivered by various settlement organizations and
employment agencies in and around our community. However, we must also support employers to
be proactive in hiring immigrants.
Recent census data has indicated that more than half of our local population are immigrants, with
many having arrived in the past 10-15 years. In an increasingly diverse community like Toronto and
Mississauga, that attracts a large and growing pool of skilled and talented immigrants, it is not only
socially responsible that business welcome immigrants into its workforce, but it makes good business
sense.
Across Canada and most of the developed world, employers are faced with the challenge of a
shrinking labour pool. Baby boomers are retiring and birth rates are falling. Not enough skilled
people are being trained to fill certain positions. Businesses in our community for years have been
experiencing skills shortages and have been having difficulty filling positions, and this trend
continues.
We are very fortunate that the immigrants arriving in Canada and our community today are coming
with the highest academic and professional credentials and experience than at any other time in our
history. In the coming years, immigrants will account for all net labour force growth in Canada, and
all net population growth by 2030.
This means that in the next decade business will be depending on the skills of immigrants in order to
sustain their workforce and to grow and prosper.
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In an increasingly globalized economy, hiring skilled immigrants will be an asset to business in
building international networks, whether with customers, suppliers, or partners. When a business
hires an immigrant, they not only gain the individual's hard skills and experience, they also gain the
language skills and the intimate knowledge that the employee will have of their home country and its
markets.
Businesses are also taking a closer look at the demographics of their consumer market. Mississauga
and the Greater Toronto Area is one of the most diverse regions in the world, and it is becoming even
more diverse every day - just look around this community and you will see. Skilled immigrants are
not only living and working here - they are consumers, buying homes, cars, and other commodities
and services. They are a large pool of potential consumers that all businesses need to tap into. One of
the best ways for a business to gain access to this market is to have its workforce understand it and
mirror it.
There is direct evidence from employers that integrating diversity and immigrants into their
organizations provides diverse ideas, perspectives, and creativity. They help to make our workplaces
more dynamic.
I've only highlighted a few key reasons why the Mississauga Chamber of Commerce is actively
promoting to businesses to bring skilled immigrants into their workplaces. There is much more that I
could add, but hopefully the message is clear - that capitalizing on the skills and employment of
immigrants is and will continue to be critical to the future success of business and our local economy,
for many years to come.
Thank you.
President, Repallets), that explains why you feel strongly about this issue and why it should
matter to them as well. making the case to them about the benefits of hiring
immigrants.
To,
Ms. Joanne Robinson,
The President,
Repallets.
Sub: Benefits of hiring immigrants
Dear President,
I hope you’re having a wonderful day!
I am writing this letter with regard to recommend hiring of immigrants because I strongly feel that they will contribute too many things in our country’s economy such as;
Several researchers and recommendations have identified baseline reasons for businesses to tap into the available pool of skilled immigrants to match the demand and supply. For business owners it’s not a matter of social benefit or the public benefit. There’s a strong business benefit; diverse hiring practices helps ideally business to grow at rapid rate.
As our economy is growing economy and we need to maintain all the gaps for sustainable future hence I would strongly recommend hiring immigrants and requesting you to kindly consider hiring of immigrants.
Regards
(Your Name)