Retention

• The province with the highest retention rate is Ontario, followed by Alberta, British Columbia and Quebec.
• Ontario, Quebec, Alberta and British Columbia have retention rates of skilled workers above 85%. Similarly for provincial nominees, Ontario and provinces to the west had retention rates above 80%.
• In terms of immigration categories, live-in caregivers, refugees, and the family class have highest retention rates (90%) while retention rates for skilled workers and provincial nominees were somewhat lower (between 80 and 85%).
• When net change is taken into account, Alberta stands out because it was the recipient of so many secondary movers (a net increase of more than 16,500 over the 6 year period).
• The Atlantic region is diverse and each province is chart on its own path to accommodate its unique needs through Provincial Nominee Programs.
• Nova Scotia has the highest regional five-year retention rate at 72%, Newfoundland and Labrador is at 56 %, New Brunswick is at 52% and |PEI is at 18% overall .
• PEI’s retention rate fell from 32.3% in TY 2011 to 27.8% (tax year 2013) and the net inflow rate for 2013 (30.9%) is also lower than it was in 2011 (37.3%). This means that PEI retains significantly less than 1/3 of the immigrants originally destined there, which is problematic for a province where Provincial Nominees account for about 90% of annual flow of new permanent residents. Most of PEI’s out-migrants are destined for Ontario (2,555), and BC (1,720).
• Ontario’s and Alberta’s retention rates were the highest in Canada (93.1%), but while Ontario’s was stable from 2011, Alberta’s rate rose 1.3 percentage points between 2011 and 2013 to equal Ontario’s.
• Immigrants who left Ontario were found mainly in Alberta (12,910), BC (6,950) and Quebec (5,405). The main sources of in-migration to Ontario came from Quebec (15,030), BC (7,670) and Alberta (4,110). Other sources were Manitoba (2,870) and PEI (2,555). However, immigrants destined for all provinces were resident in Ontario in 2013.
• Alberta’s out-migrants resided in Ontario (4,110) and BC (3,010) in TY 2013, while Alberta attracted significant numbers from Ontario (12,910), Quebec (5,145), Manitoba (3,340), Saskatchewan (2,170) and BC (5,785).
• BC’s retention rate fell slightly from 93.1% in TY 2011 to 90.4% in 2013. 7,670 immigrants destined to BC lived in Ontario in 2013 and a further 5,785 lived in Alberta. However, BC experienced in-migration of 6,950 from Ontario

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