Hard-To-Fill Skills Pilot Program to Ease Labour Demand in Key Sector
The Government of Saskatchewan announced a new pilot under the Saskatchewan Immigrant Nominee Program (SINP) to address hard-to-fill positions in the province.
The Hard-To-Fill Skills Pilot will enable Saskatchewan employers to recruit workers through overseas missions, or other international recruitment activities, into select jobs that have significant recruitment challenges. The eligible jobs under this pilot will allow for application of low and entry level positions, and may require on-the-job training, but are critical for businesses to continue to operate and grow. The sectors with the highest labour demands include health, manufacturing, agriculture, ag-tech, construction, hospitality and retail.
This new Hard-To-Fill Skills Pilot - developed in Saskatchewan for Saskatchewan - is progress on our autonomy discussions with the federal government and is going to help provide employers with greater access to international options to recruit workers. This is in addition to record investments into training and upskilling our provincial workforce, as we enter a period of strong growth coming out of the global pandemic."
"The demand for labour in our province is strong, and it's only going to increase with the significant economic projects recently announced in Saskatchewan,"
Immigration and Career Training Minister Jeremy Harrison
Applicants
To be eligible, applicants to the Hard-To-Fill Skills Pilot must:
First Working Process
Have a full-time, permanent offer of employment;
SINP approval letter
Have a SINP job approval letter for an eligible occupation from a registered Saskatchewan employer;
CLB level
Have a language score of at least Canadian Language Benchmark (CLB) 4
Work experience
Have at least one-year of work experience in the past three years (in your intended occupation); or six months full-time (780 hours) working in Saskatchewan in the job..
Minimum study
Have completed the equivalent of Canadian secondary school (high school) or higher-level education. If your studies were not completed in Canada, you will need to submit an Educational Credential Assessment.
Employers
To be eligible, employers benefiting from Hard-To-Fill Skills Pilot must:
Domestically efforts
They have made fulsome efforts to hire domestically for the position prior to utilizing the program; must advertise each position being recruited on SaskJobs for a minimum of four consecutive weeks; in the three months prior to submitting the JAF.
Business need
That there is a need and a benefit to their business; and the employment offer meets SINP requirements..
Relocation aids
Fulfill specific requirements around providing relocation support for the workers.
Occupations
There are 23 occupations from eight sectors are eligible occupations for the Hard-to-Fill Skills Pilot. Occupations are listed by their National Occupational Classification codes (NOC codes):
From our experience these occupations are the more needed by employers
8431 - General farmworkers
7611 - Construction trades helpers and labourers
7511 - Transport truck drivers
6731 - Light duty cleaners
6711 - Food counter attendants, kitchen helpers and related support occupations
6525 - Hotel front desk clerk
6513 - Food and beverage servers
4412 - Home support workers, housekeepers and related occupations
These are the rest of occupations that are also accepted through the pilot
1521 - Shippers and receivers
1525 - Dispatchers
3413 - Nurse aides, orderlies and patient service associates
3414 - Other assisting occupations in support of health services
6733 - Janitors, caretakers and building superintendents
7452 - Material handlers
7521 - Heavy equipment operators (except crane)
9416 - Metalworking and forging machine operators
9431 - Sawmill machine operators
9461 - Process control and machine operators, food and beverage processing
9526 - Mechanical assemblers and inspectors
9536 - Industrial painters, coaters and metal finishing process operators
9612 - Labourers in metal fabrication
9617 - Labourers in food and beverage processing
9619 - Other labourers in processing, manufacturing and utilities
Occupations
For more information on the initiative and eligibility criteria, Email us