BC projects one million job openings in the next ten years, as seen in British Columbia’s Labor Market Outlook Report. The Labor Market Outlook report is a ten-year forecast of the province’s in-demand careers, education, & skills training, along with industries that might be hiring. 

The report demonstrates that over 65% of new job openings will be to replace workers who are retiring in BC. In addition, over nine million Canadians are expected to retire by 2030. 

The remaining 35% of jobs in the province will be an expansion of the provincial workforce. Moreover, BC’s government forecasts an annual average employment growth of 1.2% annually. This implies that by 2033, BC’s workforce will grow to include 3.1 million people. 

The report expects that new immigrants in BC will make up to 46% of new job seekers by then. 

This is up to 25% of the Labor Market Outlook report released five years ago. In addition, BC’s government says that over 470,000 new immigrant workers are expected to arrive in the province in the next decade. This accounts for both permanent & temporary residents. 

British Columbia states that higher than previously expected immigration levels & an increase in the labor force participation for key age groups imply that the number of job seekers will match the number of new job openings. 

The report notes that over 75% of expected job openings will require some post-secondary training/ education.   

Occupations & Trainings 

As BC projects one million job openings in the next ten years, the province has also included a list of professions that will have the highest number of opportunities for people seeking to enter the labor force. The list is broken down into the education level required for the professions: 

  • Degree 

  • Registered nurses & psychiatric nurses
  • Software engineers & designers
  • Elementary school & kindergarten teachers 

  • Apprenticeship/ College Diploma 

  • Community & social service workers 
  • Police officers 
  • Assistants & early childhood educators 

  • High-School/ Occupation-Specific Training 

  • Letter carriers 
  • Messengers & couriers 
  • Mail & parcel sorters  
  • Other related professions 

In order to help ensure residents have the skills as well as training they need to succeed in one of the in-demand professions, the province is working to expand its access to training in numerous fields. As per BC, it is already making steps toward various new programs, including: 

  • Funding over 602 new nursing seats at universities & colleges throughout the province – adding to over 2,000 existing nurses seats in the BC. 
  • Creating a new medical school at Simon Fraser University & adding over 40 new undergraduate medical education seats along with 112 new residency seats at the University of British Columbia’s faculty of medicine.
  • Creating more than 1,700 additional childhood educator spaces, thus providing 6,500 bursaries to ECE students since 2018. 
  • Adding 6,000 (approx.) tech-relevant spacing since 2017
  • Providing over $27.13 million towards Vancouver Community College’s new Center for Clean Energy & Automotive Innovation. The training facility will accommodate as many as 1,400 students every year with new programs in clean-energy technology, light rail, & zero-emissions vehicle repair & technology. 

British Columbia Provincial Nominee Program 

In order to help aid the province in expanding its workforce, the province invites applicants to apply for provincial nomination every week via British Columbia Provincial Nominee Program. 

Through the program, British Columbia can target & select economic immigration applicants who are most likely to integrate into the provincial economy. It can do this because immigration is a shared responsibility between provincial & federal governments. Reports like Labor Market Outlook help inform the BC PNP on what attributes to focus on when issuing invitations. 

For instance, almost every other week, BC holds a draw for applicants in tech professions. It also invited Early Childhood Educators as well as Assistants in healthcare professions in every draw of 2023. 

The province has also recently begun targeting applicants who work in construction professions. 

In addition, there are numerous programs within the BC PNP that applicants can use to obtain provincial nomination. A nomination differs from getting permanent resident status from IRCC but can make an application much stronger. 

Some pathways to provincial nomination in the province for skilled immigrants include Skilled Workers, International Graduates & Entry-Level & Semi-skilled streams. Moreover, there are also entrepreneurial streams, Express Entry streams, & a tech stream for applicants. Every program has unique eligibility criteria.