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I'm a USA-ian in Canada. Married a local, been here a while, work remotely for a US company. > Canadian wages are considerably lower than the US for 'talent' s

I'm a USA-ian in Canada. Married a local, been here a while, work remotely for a US company. > Canadian wages are considerably lower than the US for 'talent' so generally, people prefer to go to the US. Easily a difference 40% or more. The CAD is about 27% weaker than the US Dollar, and even after accounting for currency differences the salaries are still lower in an absolute sense. Taxes are also much higher and ramp up much quicker, too, meaning there is less of an incentive to pay you big $$$ since you're going to be losing a much higher % compared to places without state income tax, like WA or TX. If you spend time on reddit, head over to r/cscareerquestions, and you'll see a ton of "Canadian trying to go to SanFran" type posts. It's not hard to do -- the NAFTA TN visa still works -- and the FAANGM salaries in places like SV, DC, NYC, Seattle, etc. blow most Canadian salaries out of the water. > On the high end - Canada imports doctors, software folks to do CRUD, ane engineers that never get to do engineering. One specialization is teaching and research for University, some number of profs are brought in. Literally 5/8 of the apartments in my building are these people, lol (myself included). Imported Uni professors from India, a couple from S. Africa doing medical stuff, and a few foreign IT guy types. > But mostly - it's people with education who will never get to use it, and a lot of people to work in retail, coffee shops and Long Term Care homes. I disagree with the former, but the latter part is true -- Canada imports a lot of TFWs to work at Tim Hortons or nursing homes.

jariel 6y ago
There are countless 'Engineers' in Canada, not doing Engineering. It's a 'big thing' right now in government - they're trying to figure out why so many 'credentialed' immigrants are not getting hired in their respective fields. The government believes 'it must be racism' to the point wherein Ontario gov. has banned requiring 'Canadian experience' for jobs etc.. This is surely, at least partly true. It's a problem. But - overall, the issue is really that 'credentials are not equal', 'credentials may not be relevant' and most importantly 'credentials are only a small part of the job'. There are actually few jobs in Canada wherein someone's 'technical ability' will qualify them for something right away. Doctors - well there's a pathway for them. Profs if they are hired into Unis. But even in IT - it's not so much one's education that makes one ready, we know in high tech that a lot people don't have technical degrees. Yes, ABC Corp. might be specifically in need of 'materials science' people but that is rare. Companies need people with technical backgrounds that can communicate, manage, problem solve in a North American operating environment, and they also need tons of people in talented areas wherein credentials just don't mean a lot. If you look at any successful tech corp a small minority have technical roles. Sales, Marketing, Product Management, Field Marketing, Sales Support, Branding, Customer Operations etc. etc. these are all communicating jobs wherein people who are more culturally adapted to the environment are better prepared. This is the primary driver of the 'migrant vs local citizen wage gap even among credentialed jobs'. Unsurprisingly, this gap closes over a couple of decades, which makes sense. In places like Sweden, this problem is exacerbated by the fact that Swedish culture is very specific, the language is hard and so they're really having difficulty getting newcomers into more sophisticated roles. It's inevitable and an inexorable fact of the system. One way to mitigate this would be to make migration a little bit more job-based, in which case employers would be making the decisions as to 'who is employable' which makes much more sense, excepting the ugly scenarios wherein you get wage suppression, which is 100% a reality as well. (The large banks in Canada started dumping call centers in Canada and moving them offshore, which is an example of that kind of thinking)
digianarchist 6y ago
> Taxes are also much higher and ramp up much quicker, too Actually taxes in the US and Canada are pretty similar. You have to be living in a state with no income tax to see any difference. https://www.theglobeandmail.com/investing/personal-finance/taxes/article-the-grass-isnt-always-greener-on-the-us-side-of-the-border/ https://www.theglobeandmail.com/investing/personal-finance/t...

jariel 6y ago

There are countless 'Engineers' in Canada, not doing Engineering. It's a 'big thing' right now in government - they're trying to figure out why so many 'credentialed' immigrants are not getting hired in their respective fields. The government believes 'it must be racism' to the point wherein Ontario gov. has banned requiring 'Canadian experience' for jobs etc.. This is surely, at least partly true. It's a problem. But - overall, the issue is really that 'credentials are not equal', 'credentials may not be relevant' and most importantly 'credentials are only a small part of the job'. There are actually few jobs in Canada wherein someone's 'technical ability' will qualify them for something right away. Doctors - well there's a pathway for them. Profs if they are hired into Unis. But even in IT - it's not so much one's education that makes one ready, we know in high tech that a lot people don't have technical degrees. Yes, ABC Corp. might be specifically in need of 'materials science' people but that is rare. Companies need people with technical backgrounds that can communicate, manage, problem solve in a North American operating environment, and they also need tons of people in talented areas wherein credentials just don't mean a lot. If you look at any successful tech corp a small minority have technical roles. Sales, Marketing, Product Management, Field Marketing, Sales Support, Branding, Customer Operations etc. etc. these are all communicating jobs wherein people who are more culturally adapted to the environment are better prepared. This is the primary driver of the 'migrant vs local citizen wage gap even among credentialed jobs'. Unsurprisingly, this gap closes over a couple of decades, which makes sense. In places like Sweden, this problem is exacerbated by the fact that Swedish culture is very specific, the language is hard and so they're really having difficulty getting newcomers into more sophisticated roles. It's inevitable and an inexorable fact of the system. One way to mitigate this would be to make migration a little bit more job-based, in which case employers would be making the decisions as to 'who is employable' which makes much more sense, excepting the ugly scenarios wherein you get wage suppression, which is 100% a reality as well. (The large banks in Canada started dumping call centers in Canada and moving them offshore, which is an example of that kind of thinking)

digianarchist 6y ago

> Taxes are also much higher and ramp up much quicker, too Actually taxes in the US and Canada are pretty similar. You have to be living in a state with no income tax to see any difference. https://www.theglobeandmail.com/investing/personal-finance/taxes/article-the-grass-isnt-always-greener-on-the-us-side-of-the-border/ https://www.theglobeandmail.com/investing/personal-finance/t...