Need to increase the number of migration by 110,000 places in Canada.

According to a report released by the Conference Board of Canada, the Canadian Immigration and Citizenship (CIC) will have to increase their migration program by 110,000 places annually by 2025 if it has to meet the labour shortages, reports Thaindian News.

The CIC allows around 250,000 migrants each year to enter the country on a permanent basis, with India and China being the biggest sources of immigrants. However, the Conference Board of Canada, which is an independent research company, said that this number needs to be increased to at least 360,000 annually by the end of 2025 in order to ensure a steady growth of the Canadian economy.

The report shows that almost 15.3 percent of the Canadian workforce, being above 55 years of age, is ready to retire, and that only 2.7 workers are entering the workforce to replace every five retirees. It is known that almost one-fifth of the Canadian economy already relies on immigrants and it seems that with the current growing shortage in the labour market, the economy would rely even more upon immigrants.

The report suggested that the CIC should allow more number of workers on temporary Canadian visas to become permanent residents, and it also suggested increasing the annual refugee quota. In 2007, almost 250,000 migrants arrived to Canada as temporary workers while 75,000 came here on Canadian student visa.

Recently, the Canadian government has increased measures to tighten immigration and give more power to Immigration Minister in order to fast-track applications for skilled migrants to Canada.