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Canadian employment rose by an estimated 43,000 in November 2007, pushing the employment rate to another record high (63.8%). So far this year, employment has increased 2.3% (+388,000), stronger than the 1.8% increase seen over the same period in 2006. As more people entered the labour force in November, the unemployment rate moved up 0.1 of a percentage point to 5.9%.
Following three months of strong increases in the public sector, November’s employment gains were mostly in the private sector. However, employment growth in the public sector has continued to outpace that of the private sector for the past 12 months.
Four industries recorded employment increases in November: transportation and warehousing; business, building and other support services; educational services; and natural resources. Gains were concentrated among men aged 25 to 54 years.
Growth in average hourly wages remained strong in November, with a year-over-year increase estimated at 4.2%, well above the most recent increase in the Consumer Price Index (+2.4%).
According to the most recent international data available, Canada’s employment rate was higher than that of the United States and most European countries in the second quarter of 2007. Among European countries, only Denmark, the Netherlands and Sweden had higher rates of employment.

The total number of Australian jobs advertised in newspapers and on the Internet increased by 0.7 percent in November to a weekly average of 256,356 per week. This follows a 2.7 percent rise in total advertisements recorded in October. The total number of advertisements in November was 36.8 percent higher than 12 months ago.
Looking at the different channels for advertising jobs, the number of job advertisements in newspapers increased by 0.2 percent in November. This follows a 1.7 percent increase in October. Newspaper advertisements are now 3.7 percent higher than in November 2006.
The rise in newspaper job advertisements in November was driven by increases in South Australia; Victoria; Tasmania; Western Australia and Queensland. These increases were partially offset by sizeable falls in both the Northern Territory and the Australian Capital Territory, with a marginal decline also recorded in New South Wales.
The number of Internet job advertisements grew modestly by 0.8 percent in November to average 235,859 per week. In trend terms, Internet job advertisements increased just 0.1 percent, the slowest rate of growth since February 2003. Nevertheless, the trend estimate of Internet job advertisements still remains 32 percent higher than a year ago.
“Total Australian job advertisements have reached a new high, indicating that demand for workers remains very strong. This reflects the continued strong economic momentum of the Australian economy, as illustrated by growth in GDP of 4.3 percent over the year to the September quarter,” ANZ Head of Australian Economics Tony Pearson said.
However, the monthly trend increase in job advertisements has continued to ease, suggesting the demand for labour is not rising as strongly as it was earlier in the year. The forward nature of the relationship between the Job Advertisements series and employment suggests that employment growth will continue to slow over coming months, although it will remain positive. Although we cannot be sure of what is driving this development, it may be that recent increases in interest rates and uncertainty associated with the global financial market volatility has made businesses more cautious in putting on additional workers, even while economic activity remains robust,” Mr Pearson said.
“Looking at job advertisements by state, it continues to be the smaller states of Tasmania, the Northern Territory and the Australian Capital Territory which are showing the strongest increases in job advertisements. Queensland and New South Wales are also showing signs of improvement. In contrast, job advertisements in Western Australia and to a lesser extent in South Australia appear to be turning down,” Mr Pearson said.

Between July 1, 2005 and June 30, 2006, Alberta experienced the highest net inflow of residents, posting a migration rate of 20.3 people for every 1,000 population. British Columbia was a distant second with a net migration rate of 12.3 people, while Ontario was third at 9.6 people.
The highest net inflow relative to the population size occurred in Calgary, which had a net inflow of 21.5 migrants for every 1,000 residents, followed closely by Edmonton with a net inflow of 21.0 migrants and Toronto with 17.3 migrants.
In absolute terms, Toronto had the highest net inflow, with 91,909 more people moving into the metropolitan area than moving out. Vancouver ranked second with a net inflow of 36,321 people, followed by Calgary (+22,961 people).
For Toronto, Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton and Montreal, the number of net migrants was highest in the 25-44 age group.
An important shift in rates of net gain per 1,000 population occurred between the 2004/2005 and 2005/2006 periods. In 2004/2005, 4 of the 5 census divisions with the highest net gain in migrants were located near Montreal, with the census division of Mirabel leading the way.
In 2005/2006, Mirabel still ranked first, but this time it was followed by three census divisions from Alberta and two from Ontario.

Data is from Statistics Canada.

During a state visit to India, Canadian Immigration Minister Diane Finley announced the expansion of services for migrants from China and India to get their professional credentials assessed and recognized in a timely manner before immigrating to Canada.
While on her November visit in New Delhi, Finley announced the opening of a new office of the Canadian Immigration Integration Project (CIIP). The CIIP, funded by the Foreign Credential Recognition Program, is designed to help skilled migrants prepare for the professional accreditation and recognition process in their country of origin before making the move to Canada.
"The Government of Canada is committed to helping newcomers succeed, and one way to do that is to help them before they get to Canada," Finley said.
"Too many newcomers have come to Canada only to learn after they've arrived what credentials are needed. By expanding our [Foreign Credential Referral Office] programs overseas, we're helping prospective immigrants to get a head start by providing information on the foreign credential recognition process and the Canadian labour market."
The service will be implemented on a rotational basis in the Indian states of Gujarat and Punjab. China will receive rotational services in the cities of Beijing and Shanghai.
Foreign professional credential recognition in Canada is a territorial and provincial responsibility. However, the federal government has taken on a "facilitative role" in response to the difficulties migrants have faced in the past after migrating to Canada.

Canada expects to welcome "between 240,000 and 265,000 newcomers in 2008", according to the 2007 report presented to the House of Commons on 31 October 2007. The 2007 'Annual Report to Parliament on Immigration' provided information on immigration figures for 2006 and outlines Canada's immigration strategy for 2008.
Highlights of the report included:
• admitting 240,000 to 265,000 new permanent residents in 2008
• between 139,000 and 154,000 new permanent residents will be admitted under a new program called the Canadian Experience Class. The new stream, to be implemented in 2008, allows certain temporary foreign workers and international students with Canadian degrees and Canadian work experience to apply for permanent residency from within Canada
• admitting between 68,000 and 71,000 migrants under family reunification
• admitting between 26,000 and 31,800 refugees and up to 8,000 people under humanitarian and compassionate reasons as permanent residents
In 2006, Canada granted 251,649 migrants permanent residency. Of these, 138,257 were admitted as skilled migrants, business migrants, provincial nominees, and live-in caregivers. 70,506 were admitted for family reunification, 32,492 were granted asylum, and 10,223 were granted permanent residence on humanitarian and compassionate grounds.
"Our government believes that immigration plays an important role in building our communities and growing our economy," Immigration Minister Diane Finley said in a statement.
"The immigration targets tabled today will help ensure that Canada continues to grow and benefit from all that newcomers and their families bring to our country," she added.

An Alberta, Canada program designed to assist migrants' registration and accreditation in their chosen professional field will get a CAD $740,000 boost from the Albertan government.
The Immigrant Access Fund (IAF) provides loans of up to CAD $5,000, repayable within four years, to foreign-trained professional and trades people to cover the cost of tuition fees, course materials, exam fees, living and travel expenses, qualification assessments, and professional association fees.
"At this stage of Alberta's unprecedented growth, we need everyone working to their full potential, and new immigrants are no exception," said Iris Evans, Albertan Minister of Employment, Industry and Industry.
The federal government has admitted that skilled migrants who come to Canada face problems with local governments and employers recognizing foreign credentials gained overseas. "Some newcomers have trouble finding work in their profession because of a range of registration, certification or education issues - we need to overcome these barriers in a way that allows them to practice their professions fairly and safely, and in accordance with Canadian standards," Evans said. Evans announced the loan program during the opening of the Edmonton and North Alberta office of the Immigrant Access Fund. "Alberta welcomes all newcomers to share in our high quality of life and to help sustain our economic prosperity," said Dr. Maria Eriksen, IAF president.
"This boost from the Alberta government will go a long way toward assisting immigrants to settle into our communities, find quality work in their chosen fields, and be proud to call Alberta home," she added.

Channel 4 News in the UK is reporting that the new points system to be rolled out in 2008 could possibly relax requirements for unskilled workers, particularly in the construction industry.
It's estimated that 33,500 new jobs will be created for the Olympics in 2012 and filling them with labor from the United Kingdom and the European Union will be difficult. Compounding the problem is a government construction target of 3 million new homes by 2020.
The British government has set up a Migration Advisory committee, which is advising the government on the new migration points system scheduled to start going into effect in 2008. It's expected the committee will help the government to limit immigration. The UK Home Office was forced to admit recently that an estimated 1.5 million foreign workers came to Britain in the last ten years, much higher than earlier reports.
However, with concerns about a shortage of lower skilled labor, the committee could decide that the UK needs more construction workers from abroad. Take the Olympics: you're going to need a lot of construction workers to build the Olympics and -- at the same time -- the housing that's going to be built...it's possible that UK can't get enough workers from [Britain and the EU] and therefore need workers from outside the EU. The government may ask the committee to look into allowing more unskilled workers from outside the EU into the labor force.

The British Association of Physicians of Indian Origin (BAPIO) won a judgment on 09 November 2007 in favor of international doctors living in the UK. The ruling found that guidance handed out by the Department of Health (DH) to National Health Service (NHS) employers was unlawful and international medical graduates should be treated on par with medical graduates from the Britain and the European Union.
The appeal was heard by Lord Justice Sedley, Lord Justice Maurice Kay and Lord Justice Rimer and all three were unanimous in their ruling that the DH guidance was wrong.
The controversial guidance suggested that NHS employers should look first to British and European Union medical graduates to fill NHS training posts before hiring international medical graduates in Britain under the UK Work Permit scheme or the Highly Skilled Migrant Programme (HSMP).
"We are delighted...this will reduce stress among tens of thousands of doctors who are providing excellent care every day within the NHS. This judgment means that these International Medical Graduates can continue to be treated on merit in any recruitment process," said Dr Raman Lakshman, Vice Chair for Policy for BAPIO.
Dr Buddhdev Pandya, Corporate Advisor to BAPIO, is happy with the ruling but hopes that the situation can be put behind all those involved.
"This was a landmark judgment and now is the time for us all to work with the Home Office and Department of Health in a constructive way to heal the wounds and build up again a diverse and highly trained workforce," he said.

Britain's Border and Immigration Agency (BIA) has caught up with their backlog of work permit applications. This is good news for United Kingdom employers who hire migrant workers from outside the European Union or European Economic Area.
In Nov 07, the BIA was considering applications within 5 days of receipt. At the end of October, BIA was making decisions on 70 percent of applications within 5 working days and 88 percent of applications within 15 working days. However, review requests are currently taking 5 weeks to decide.
"We have taken steps to reduce the backlog of cases on the reviews team and hope to have resolved this by the end of 2007," the BIA said in a release.

A new study released by the British Council says that the United Kingdom is one of the most welcoming countries for immigrants when compared to 27 other European countries. The 'Migrant Integration Policy Index' analyzed the integration of immigrants in the 25 European Union states, as well as Norway, Switzerland and Canada. The UK ranked ninth overall in the report.
The UK was ranked fifth for favorable immigration policies that allow migrants to gain long-term residence and citizenship. They ranked ninth for overall for ease of integration of immigrants, with Sweden coming in first. However, the UK faired fine at 15th place in the study in immigrant integration for allowing migrants the right to vote and take part in democratic processes. The British Council study also said that the UK could do better at making family reunification easier.
Overall, Sweden was top country in the report -- followed by Portugal, Belgium, the Netherlands, Finland, Canada, Italy and Norway. According to the report, previous research showed that 3.4 million people in the UK were born outside the EU -- approximately 1 in 18 of the population.

Two organizations that usually find themselves on the opposite sides of the fence on immigration issues such as H-1B visas have joined forces to urge United States lawmakers to ease the retention of highly skilled immigrants.
In a joint letter to key U.S. House and Senate leaders, the Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) and the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers-USA (IEEE-USA) urged measures that would ease the hiring of foreign-born scientists and engineers as well as other proposals that would enhance U.S. global competitiveness in the hi-tech sector. Both organizations that highly skilled foreign talent should be able to gain permanent residence "green cards", in an expedited manner, rather than having to wait five to ten years, as many do under the current immigration system. They support legislation to attract and retain highly skilled foreign professionals with advanced degrees in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) disciplines as permanent residents.
"The U.S. should be encouraging highly skilled talent to enter and remain in the United States in order to improve America's competitive position in the global economy. Other nations are working hard to attract this same talent to compete against U.S. companies," the letter stated.
Both organizations support legislation that would:

• Raise the employment-based immigrant visa cap, including an exemption for foreign professionals with advanced degrees in STEM disciplines from U.S. universities
• Create a new foreign student visa category to allow U.S. STEM bachelors or higher degree holders who have a job offer to transition directly from student visas to green cards
• Extend post curricular optional practical training for foreign students from 12 months to 24 months to allow them to move more easily from temporary to permanent status
• Exempt spouses and children of certain employment-based professionals from the employment-based immigrant visa ca

The letter states that 51 percent of master's and 71 percent of PhD graduates in electrical and electronic engineering disciplines from U.S. universities are foreign nationals.

New Zealand Immigration Minister David Cunliffe announced new immigration policies that will make it easier for citizens to bring family members into the country for visits. "The changes recognize the importance of family support and make the immigration system more transparent," Cunliffe said.
"Parents and grandparents play a key role in family life. The new policies will make it easier for family from offshore to visit," he added. there will be a new multiple visit visa for parents and grandparents visiting family in New Zealand. The visa will allow them to travel back and forth to New Zealand over a three-year period without the need to apply for a new visa each time.
Changes were also announced for the sponsorship of parents, adult children, and siblings in the family residence immigration categories. These include:

• Establishing a quota for the sponsorship of parents, adult children, and adult siblings to come to New Zealand as permanent residents
• Introducing more stringent "character criteria" for people wishing to sponsor partners to come to New Zealand
• Introducing a minimum income requirement of NZD $29,897.92 (approximately USD $23,000) for sponsors of parents
• Extending the timeframe for sponsors to guarantee support for their parents from two years to five years (effective with the passing of the Immigration Bill in 2008)
• Withdrawing the existing Family Quota immigration category

The 2007-2008 quotas for parents, adult children, and adult siblings will be based on actual numbers from previous years. There will be 3100 to 3400 places for parents, 250 to 350 places for adult children, and 1100 to 1250 places for adult siblings during this period.
"The largest part of our residence programme will continue to be for skilled migrants and their immediate families. There will be no change to the current distribution of places with 60 percent of residence places for skilled migrants, 30 percent for family related places and 10 percent for our international and humanitarian obligations," Cunliffe said.
Cunliffe stated that the changes making it easier for people to bring family members to visit New Zealand are being balanced by tighter requirements in some cases. "The family package announced today recognizes the important role extended families play in enhancing settlement outcomes for our valued migrants. While the existing share of the total residence program has been preserved, enhanced character and sponsorship requirements ensure a transparent and sustainable family residence program," he said.

On 24 October 2007, Immigration Minister David Cunliffe announced changes to New Zealand immigration policy for students wishing to remain in the country as permanent migrants.
From late November, many international students will be able to remain in New Zealand for 12 months, rather than 6, under a job search permit that will allow them to look for skilled work.
"There is increasing competition for skilled graduates and we need to allow them enough time to find a job in their area of expertise here in New Zealand, and not run the risk that they will go elsewhere," Cunliffe said.
The new rules will also allow current graduates in New Zealand on a six month permit to extend it for another six months. Cunliffe stated that longer extensions would be allowed for architecture and accounting graduates whose discipline requires professional registration only after a certain amount of experience. Architecture and accounting graduates, who need three years practical experience to achieve professional registration, will be allowed to stay and work in New Zealand for three years without the need to reapply for a work permit.
New Zealand relies on a points-based system to attract highly skilled immigrants. The government actively promotes immigration to the country -- which has been slowing down recently -- in an effort to combat labor shortages in key sectors.

Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) is collaborating with several media firms to get Canadians talking about what citizenship means to them. Many Canadian citizens have given their cool views about their experience of being an integral part of Canada.
Infact people have uploaded their videos to share their welcoming cultural diversity & bad experiences with others in Canada. What’s more is that people are winning exciting prizes like video cameras, digital cameras or mp3 players.
Sounds interesting!!!

The Canadian Orientation Abroad (COA) initiative was implemented by CIC to provide orientation sessions abroad to assist refugees and others who have been accepted for immigration to Canada in preparing for their move to Canada and to facilitate their integration into Canadian society. The COA is the responsibility of the Settlement Division of Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) and is currently delivered abroad on behalf of CIC by the International Organization for Migration (IOM), under a contribution agreement.
COA sessions are offered to all classes of immigrants and refugees who have been selected for permanent resident status. However, priority is given to Convention refugees (CRs). In addition, CIC has indicated that the participation of women and children is a priority.
Current COA Sites (2005)

Site Coordination,Active Training Site	Satellite Sites
	Fixed Room, Regular Staff On-Call
Manila
Nairobi	Fugnido, Shirkole, Bonga and Addis (Ethiopia); Kigoma, Kasulu, Kibondo, N’gara, and Dar es Salaam (Tanzania); Kakuma, Dadaab (Kenya); Uganda and Djibouti
Cairo
Tehran	Mashad, Shiraz, Isfahan, Zahedan
Islamabad	Peshawar, Karachi, Lahore

Most provinces in Canada have an agreement with the Government of Canada that allows them to nominate immigrants who wish to settle in that province. If you choose to immigrate to Canada as a provincial nominee, you must first apply to the province where you wish to settle and complete its provincial nomination process. The province will consider your application based on its immigration needs and your genuine intention to settle there.
Here is a list of the provinces and one territory currently participating in this program.

• Alberta
• British Columbia
• Manitoba
• New Brunswick
• New foundland & Labrador
• Nova Scotia
• Ontario
• Prince Edward Island
• Saskatchewan
• Yukon

Since the eligibility criteria vary among the provinces, you should visit our nearest branch office for more information.

The United States have begun accepting applications for the Diversity Visa 2009 Lottery (DV-2009 or "Green Card" Lottery) w.e.f 12 noon East Coast time for the U.S. on Wednesday, 03 October 2007. The application period will end at 12 Noon Eastern Standard Time on Sunday, 02 December 2007. All applications must be submitted by electronic Entry Form on the Internet; paper entries will not be accepted.
The United States Green Card is a permanent residency visa that must be renewed every ten years. The idea behind the Diversity Visa Lottery (or the "Green card Lottery," as it is informally referred to) is to give the opportunity for immigration to people from cultural backgrounds that are considered under-represented in U.S. immigration statistics. The theory is that the American economy and culture are stronger when people from diverse backgrounds become part of U.S. society.
Any country that has more than 50,000 immigrants that came to the U.S. during the previous 5 years becomes "ineligible." The U.S. publishes a list of these countries every year. In the present list of ineligible countries are Brazil, Canada, China (mainland-born), Columbia, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, India, Jamaica, Mexico, Pakistan, Philippines, Peru, Poland, Russia, South Korea, United Kingdom (except Northern Ireland) and its dependent territories, and Vietnam. Persons born in Hong Kong SAR, Macau SAR and Taiwan are eligible.
Note: The determination of the eligibility for an individual is based upon their country of birth, not the country they currently live in or which country (or countries) they have current citizenship with.
There is only one other qualification for an applicant: they must meet either the education OR work experience requirement of the DV program. A person must have EITHER a high school education or its equivalent, and it is up to the applicant to prove this if their application is selected for an interview.
However, if a person does not have the formal education required, they may also claim two years of work experience within the past five years in an occupation that requires at least two years of training or experience to perform.

Improvements to Canada's Temporary Foreign Worker Program were announced recently that will make it faster for employers in British Columbia and Alberta to hire foreign workers.
The program is designed to help employers fill positions when qualified Canadians cannot be found. The program is jointly administered by the Human Resources and Social Development Canada (HRSDC) and Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC).
The new improvements are being implemented as a test project in British Columbia and Alberta and will allow eligible employers who need workers in 12 specific occupations to receive their Labour Market Opinions (LMO) in three to five days.
Under Canadian immigration regulations, HRSDC is required to provide an LMO to Citizenship and Immigration (CIC) or to an employer on the likely impact hiring a foreign worker will have on the Canadian labour market. In the past, an LMO could take up to five months.
The 12 occupations, identified as being in high demand in Canada, are as follows:

• Carpenters
• Crane Operators
• Hotel and Hospitality Room Attendants
• Hotel Front Desk Clerks
• Food and Beverage Servers
• Food Counter Attendants
• Tour and Travel Guides
• Registered Nurses
• Dental Technicians
• Pharmacists
• Snowboard and ski instructors and
• Retail Sales Persons and Sales Clerks

To qualify for the test project, employers must meet certain conditions. These include making reasonable efforts to find qualified Canadians or permanent residents, not having any labor disputes in progress at the employer's workplace, and that working conditions, including pay, meet minimum standards.
Parvinder Sandhu, Sr. Director, WWICS Canada Inc., feels elated on this move of CIC. “The Speedy processing of Temporary Work Visas would help the unemployment in specific skill-shortage sectors of Canada.” he said.

The Honourable Diane Finley, Minister of Citizenship and Immigration, and the Honourable Monte Solberg , Minister of Human Resources and Social Development Canada, announced improvements to the Temporary Foreign Worker Program to make it easier for employers in Alberta and British Columbia to hire foreign workers when there are no Canadian citizens or permanent residents available to fill the position.
“Canada’s new government has been listening to employers in Alberta and British Columbia, and they are truly having a hard time finding enough workers,” said Minister Solberg. “The improvements we are announcing are making it easier, faster, and less costly for employers to hire temporary foreign workers.”
“These new initiatives will assist employers by reducing overall costs and make it two to four weeks faster for employers to hire temporary foreign workers,” said Minister Finley. “They will effectively help employers having difficulty finding Canadian workers to fill their human resource needs, while continuing to protect the access of Canadian workers to the labour market.”
The improvements include:

• Regional lists of occupations under pressure.
• Providing better information for employers.
• Creating federal provincial working groups.
• In addition to these initiatives, Temporary Foreign Worker Units announced in Vancouver and Calgary last August are now fully operational and providing advice to employers seeking to employ temporary foreign workers.

Mr. Devinder Sandhu, Sr. Director, WWICS, was pleased with these initiatives taken by the new government & implementing on the policies. “The employers of Alberta & BC have been in dire need of skilled professionals & tradesmen & this initiative would help them in solving their recruitment needs.” he said.
Source: Canada News Centre

Australia has formalized a longstanding Working Holiday visa agreement with Canada. The program allows thousands of young Australians and Canadians to take an extended holiday and work in each others' country.
Canada and Australia have had the longstanding agreement since 1975. The program is a testament to the close relationship between Australia and Canada.
Canadian citizens are top users of this program, with more than 60,000 entering Australia since last ten years. The arrangement is a good outcome for both our countries. Not only does it provide opportunities for young Australians and Canadians to experience each other's culture and lifestyle, but it also builds strong business ties and cultural associations.
The MoU provides some new conditions for Australians & Canadians:

• eligible Australians aged 18-30 years to stay and work in Canada for two years. It also allows Australians unlimited access to the program, and will remove the annual quota on visa applications that previously existed.
• Canadians entering Australia under the Working Holiday Maker program will be issued with a 12 month visa which allows them to work for up to six months with each employer and study for up to four months. They can apply for a second year's visa if they complete three months seasonal work in regional Australia in the first year.