It's a significant problem for anyone whose first language isn't English or French, especially if their first language doesn't have the same alphabet—possibly Turkish or Mandarin or Cyrillic-based. Those individuals have a very hard time writing, and the problem is the language test. You must meet a very high level of competence in four areas: reading, writing, listening and speaking.
Now, my wife tells me I didn't pass the listening test, but I still got to be a consultant. That's one of the key areas. The simple case is that you could have a chef here from another country who doesn't have a great education but is making $70,000 or $80,000 a year, has been in the country for 10 years on a work permit, but cannot qualify for permanent residence simply because they cannot write a decent essay.