February 22, 2024 - Canada’s recent changes to its immigration policies are making this country less competitive and successful in selecting top talent, a new study from the C.D. Howe Institute indicates. We need to re-develop immigration policies and restructure the points-based system to find the right balance between quantity and quality, to be more in line with our competitors abroad, and to boost Canadian economic growth and productivity.
In “Quality Over Quantity: How Canada’s Immigration System Can Catch Up with its Competitors,” author Parisa Mahboubi, a Senior Policy Analyst at the C.D. Howe Institute, presents a comparative analysis of different countries’ immigration policies, including Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the UK, with the objective of identifying key areas for improvement in Canadian policy.
It also reviews the impact of important selection factors on immigrants’ economic outcomes, and recommends policy changes, including taking an empirical approach for selecting skilled immigrants, boosting the standards of language requirements, considering pre-admission earnings, and setting a minimum eligibility threshold score in order to improve Canada’s points-based system and raise Canadians’ living standards.
“The government should make better use of data by conducting regular statistical earnings regressions to investigate the optimal criteria and weights for determining immigrant success,” Mahboubi explains. “By examining the relationship between immigrants’ human capital characteristics at the time of application, and their earnings after landing, we can gain valuable insight into what factors are most important for success.”
The goal would be to improve the immigration selection process and ensure that newcomers are set up for long-term success in Canada. Based on the international comparison, Mahboubi presents four recommendations in improving immigration policy:
- Setting a minimum points threshold for eligibility
- Considering a pre-admission earnings factor
- Boosting standards under the language requirement
- Raising business immigration numbers
By enacting these recommendations, Canada’s immigration policies and express-entry system can be more in line with three peer countries, while also benefitting the country’s economic growth and boosting business investment to help support immigrants and the existing population. Further, these reforms will enable Canada to compete with its peers in the global search for talent and maximize the benefits of immigration.
For more information, please contact: Parisa Mahboubi, Senior Policy Analyst, C.D. Howe Institute; and Gillian Campbell, Communications Officer, C.D. Howe Institute at gcampbell@cdhowe.org.
The C.D. Howe Institute is an independent not-for-profit research institute whose mission is to raise living standards by fostering economically sound public policies. Widely considered to be Canada's most influential think tank, the Institute is a trusted source of essential policy intelligence, distinguished by research that is nonpartisan, evidence-based and subject to definitive expert review.