Housing shortfall, costs and affordability

[Bytor]

Or just think about it this way: when is the last time you've seen hundreds of people camping in tents in public parks or wrapped around the block downtown Kitchener to flip burgers? Absolutely never. Something has changed, then, right?

Late 1929 to late-1939 was the last big period like that. By 1931, 22.3% of Canada's population was foreign born (this number was only *just* surpassed in the 2021 census when 23.0% were recorded as foreign born). Coincidentally, a rapid period of emigration occurred during from 1931 to 1941 when farming crashed out West and factories closed all over the place.  The 1930s were only bleak for those who lost their jobs or who were in really low-income/low-power jobs where there were always workers ready to step in if someone was fired.

As far as employment levels go, according to the 2021 census, the employment rate was 77% among recent immigrants, 81% among longer-term immigrants, and 84% among the Canadian born.  

As for international students and temporary foreign workers (again, per the 2021 census):

Temporary foreign workers and international students have become an integral part of the labour force
Canada is increasingly reliant on temporary foreign workers (TFWs) to fill labour shortage gaps. The number of TFWs (work permit holders on December 31 in each year) increased seven-fold from 111,000 in 2000 to 777,000 in 2021. The share of TFWs among all workers with T4 earnings rose from 2% in 2010 to 4% in 2019, and was particularly high in some of the lower-skilled sectors in 2019, such as agriculture (15%); accommodation and food services (10%); and administrative and support, waste management and remediation services (10%). TFWs were also overrepresented in some higher-skilled industries, such as professional, scientific, and technical services sector (6%); and information and cultural industries (5%).

Between 2000 and 2019, the number of international students with T4 earnings increased from 22,000 to 354,000, a result of both a higher number of international students and their rising labour force participation rate (from 18% to 50%). The increases were particularly large at the non-university postsecondary level, where the labour force participation rate rose from 7% to 58% and the number of participants rose from 3,000 to 173,000.

Transition to permanent residency
Temporary foreign workers and international students are transitioning to permanent residency in greater numbers. About 25% of TFWs who arrived in Canada in the late 2000s and early 2010s became permanent residents within five years after obtaining their first work permit, compared with the rate of 18% among those who arrived in the early 2000s. Lower-skilled TFWs tended to have higher rates of transition to permanent residency when compared with their higher-skilled counterparts, although the difference became small among those who arrived in the early 2010s.

One-third of international students who arrived in the late 2000s and early 2010s became permanent residents within 10 years of being in Canada. The transition rate reached 50% for international students at the graduate level and 60% for those with Canadian work experience.

In recent years, 40% to 60% of new economic immigrants were former TFWs or international students. In 2020, that number rose to 67% among principal applicants in the economic class. The increasing selection of economic immigrants from among temporary foreign workers—the two-step selection—is an important contributing factor for the improvement in the labour market outcomes of new immigrants in recent years.

On the other hand, lower numbers of immigrants are citizens 10 years after arrival. 

https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/11-6...15-eng.htm

"Among those in Canada for five years, for example, the rate fell continuously from 68.1% in 1996 to 43.0% in 2016. Among immigrants in Canada for nine years, the rate fell from 84.1% in 2006 to 73.4% in 2016."