Highly skilled job seekers from India turning to Canada over U.S., study shows

A rising number of job seekers from India are looking for work opportunities in Canada over the United States, with searches for tech jobs leading the way, a recent study says.

Canada's share of job searches conducted from India rose from six to 13 per cent between August 2016 and July 2018, says the study by the popular job site, Indeed.

This same period saw the share of searches from India for employment opportunities in the United States drop from 60 to 50 per cent, "with Canada picking up most of the displaced interest."

"This net 17 percentage point narrowing in relative search popularity was easily the largest swing among the countries we analyzed," Indeed reports.

The study looked at cross-border job searches from 58 countries over the two-year period, with a particular focus on searches targeting Canada and the U.S.

With business analyst, software developer, web developer, data scientist, Java developer, software engineer and data analyst figuring among the top 10 job searches from India, the report said the rising interest in Canada could "prove a boon to the Canadian tech industry."

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Most Searched Jobs

Rank	Job Title
1	Business Analyst
2	Mechanical Engineer
3	Software Developer
4	Project Manager
5	Web developer
6	Data Scientist
7	Java Developer
8	Civil Engineer
9	Software Engineer
10	Data Analyst

The study said the rise in searches may be partly due to both "Canada's booming tech scene" and uncertainty about the U.S. H-1B visa program, which the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump has tightened.

Indian citizens are by the far the main beneficiaries of the specialty occupations visas, which many workers in tech and other STEM-related fields rely on to work in the U.S.

Canada, meanwhile, has improved access to temporary work visas for eligible skilled workers through the Global Skills Strategy and its Global Talent Stream program.

Overall, the Indeed study showed Canada's share of searches rose in 41 of the 58 countries analyzed, and dropped in the other 17.

By and large, Canada wasn't benefiting at the expense of the United States — searches for U.S. jobs also rose in 25 of the 41 countries where Indeed found an increase in Canadian searches.

In the remaining 16 countries, however, Canada's share grew while searches to the U.S. declined, with the most dramatic shift occurring in India.

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