In the public sphere, some have mentioned that the TFWP was, among other things, one of the causes of youth unemployment. This is not what we are seeing in Quebec.
As we have said, the rise in unemployment mainly affects young male students, and they will not be filling the positions targeted by the TFWP. For example, 85% of people in the TFWP have full-time jobs, which is not what students are looking for.
The same applies to the skills required. If we exclude agricultural workers, 60% of people in the TFWP work in jobs requiring a college degree or higher. It is clear to us that there is no cause-and-effect relationship.
That said, there is the whole issue of labour needs. More than 100,000 positions are vacant in Quebec. We need workers. Unfortunately, these workers are not necessarily well distributed in terms of geography or skills. Some regions have an unemployment rate of 3.6%, with the median rate being 4.6%.
This is what we see in the long term. According to calculations made by the FCCQ, Quebec will need 106,000 new immigrant workers in the near future. We are not in a situation where the long-term outlook points to an increase in unemployment. There may be a circumstantial factor at play right now, but in the long term, we will need 1.4 million workers to fill positions. Given Quebec's birth rate, it will not be possible to renew the labour pool.
The message we want to convey is that we need to address the issue of rising unemployment among young men today, particularly students, but a long-term perspective needs to be taken into account at the political level.
Immigration policies must be aligned with labour market needs, particularly in terms of geography, but also in terms of skills.
Currently, the TFWP best promotes the regionalization of immigration and best aligns it with the labour market, despite certain measures taken in Quebec regarding permanent immigration. When compared to federal programs, it is the most useful in meeting the labour needs of businesses in Quebec.