Obscuro: Anyone know what the Market is like in Canada

**Xenophon** · 17 July 2008, 09:46

General info on moving abroad: http://britishexpats.com/forum/

**DaveB** · 17 July 2008, 10:07

Anecdotally the contract market is very limited over there, it's not really a recognised method of working. Saying that permie pay rates vs cost of living are apparently much beter then they are here.

**jiminajam** · 17 July 2008, 10:10

Thanks Dave,

I figured as much. Itis not that I'm averse to a permanent job per sey, it's just that I regard all jobs as contract with one distinction;

1; people who know they are on a contract and get paid for such;
2; people who think they are permanent, but are actually on a badly paid contract rate.

If the permanent vs cost of living aspect is much better, then sure, I'd be interested.

**lilelvis2000** · 17 July 2008, 10:24

Contract rates are not as good. The differential between permanent "rate" and contract is not as wide as here. permanent jobs pay a lot more than here. Cost of living is much lower though air travel is very expensive...and you need to fly in Canada.

Canadian economy is slowing like elsewhere. Main hot spots are:
Toronto, Vancouver, London, Montreal and Ottawa.

**BigTime** · 17 July 2008, 21:19

First of all the application for permanent residence takes years so who knows what the market will be like then.

When I arrived, looking for contract or permanent paying enough to cover the mortgage, food, beer and smokes, it took me 4 months to get a temp job. The majority of applications were ignored with no response and the rates were a joke. Things happen very slowly, I was speaking to the recruiter as soon as I arrived and in the end accepted one third of my London rate.

When I moved on from there I got the contract I'm in now which is half London rates but has some advantages:
- Work from home and don't have to listen to those whiny canucks all day
- The tax system works in a way that paying divs or salary from a close company makes little difference
- Income splitting is encouraged
- Not difficult to look like a god at the keyboard in comparison to most of the locals

**The Farmer** · 18 July 2008, 09:57

Pay is generally bad in Canada compared to UK.

Canadians find it difficult to equate UK quals ie PRINCE2, ITIL, ECDL with their North American equivilents.

The immigration process is long and tedious...would test the patience of a saint. Skilled worker takes approx 5 years at min. If you can secure a job it might be quicker.

Contracting is generally not the done thing. Permie employment law is very lax. It is accepted that 2 weeks holiday per year is the norm. Big hire/fire mentality. scale up/scale down.

Quality of life far exceeds the UK.......skiing, hiking, fishing, hockey.outdoors, golf.

Big transition. Do-able but approach with caution.

Any more info?

Check out expats link above (especially moving back to UK section)

or PM me

**jonaheal** · 18 July 2008, 21:52

Thinking of coming to UK from Canada ;-)

Market slowed down further in Canada recently ( it is generally slow since 2001 ), and looks similar to UK situation in that respect ( from what I can see ).
Senior Oracle DBA contract pays $65/hour in Toronto. Full time you get around $100k/year. Full time jobs are much easier to find and does not look like there's shortage.
Contract regulations seem to be much looser compared to UK ( nothing like IR35 here ). Average house price in Toronto is $400k.

Obscuro: Anyone know what the Market is like in Canada