Education Minister Patrick Rouble announced changes to the Yukon Nominee Program (YNP) today that should see more jobs being filled in the territory's starving job market.

'The Yukon government recognizes that the territory is facing a labour shortage and employers are finding it increasingly more difficult to attract and retain workers,' he said at a morning news conference.

The YNP is arranged so foreign workers who take on jobs in the Yukon can now be nominated for permanent status by their employers, without having to go home and re-apply after a two-year expiration on their temporary work visas.

This is good news for employers, who don't have to worry about staff shortages and re-hiring every two years, said the minister.

The government is enacting two changes to the program:

establishing a Critical Impact Worker component; and

discontinuing the requirement for a federally-penned Labour Market Opinion under the skilled workers component.

Both are designed to reduce paperwork wait times, Rouble explained.

The demand and interest for jobs from outside Canada's borders are there, said Brent Slobodin, an assistant deputy minister in Rouble's department.

These changes are designed to speed up the paperwork and get workers into the territory as soon as possible to fill existing shortages, notably in the retail and hospitality industries.

Once workers arrive in the Yukon, from such countries Slobodin noted as France, Germany, the Philippines and China, they are not required under Canadian law to stay in the territory.

'Tim Hortons has found though that people who come in from the Philippines see there is a community here (of other Filipinos), sometimes they have family here, and so they stay,' said Slobodin.

The changes to the YNP should see results in the near future, said Rouble.

'I believe we already have applications coming in for Canadian Tire, Tim Hortons, as well as other small businesses.'

In addition to providing immigrants with guaranteed employment and putting them on track to having permanent status, employers also pay the airfare to get them here.

In many cases, when the foreign workers need to learn English, the employers arrange for them to take classes, and find them housing as well, although that is not a legal requirement.

When workers come to fill Yukon positions from within Canada, there is no legal requirement for employers to pay their travel expenses.

Rouble noted though that many employers offer incentives, such as free housing, transportation or money, to attract workers from other prvinces and territories.

In today's labour shortage situation, employers are doing whatever they can to survive, Rouble said.

'I've heard of people planning to close stores and restaurants because they can't get the staff,' he said.

'They're cutting back hours, we've seen at some places.

'We will continue working on future market labour development programs in order to keep the Yukon economy vibrant and strong.'

The program is not slated to cost the government any money, as it is just a resetting of policy, a government spokesperson explained at the press conference.

A further information session for the public about the YNP will be held at 1:30 p.m. Dec. 5 at the Canada Place Meeting Room 1A in the Elijah Smith Building.