Workopolis recently suggested that disgruntled Americans should follow through on their threats to move to Canada. Well, it seems that many are seriously considering taking the career site up on the offer.
As the world watched the presidential election results, visits from the U.S. to Workopolis increased by 237 per cent over the course of three hours.
Looking at it hour by hour, visits from the U.S. were already up 179 per cent in the hour before 11 p.m., compared to the same time period the day before. As midnight approached, they were 205 per cent higher than the same time on Monday, and they continued to climb as the result of the election became clear.
In the hour after midnight, the amount of visits from the U.S. to Workopolis was 384 per cent higher than it had been during the same period the night before.
If you think all Americans needed was some sleep, think again: this surge in U.S. visitors has carried over to this morning. At 6 a.m. today U.S. traffic was up 105 per cent compared to the same time period on Tuesday, and it has continued to increase throughout the morning, with:
- The 7 a.m. hour 138 per cent higher than the day prior
- The 8 a.m. hour up 147per cent
- The 9 a.m hour up 148 per cent
- The 10 a.m. 122 per cent higher than the same hour yesterday
Here is a visual snap shot of hourly visits from the U.S. to Workopolis, starting from 9 p.m. on Tuesday night.
This probably is not all that surprising considering that as the results of the election came in, the Citizenship and Immigration Canada's website crashed. If you tried visiting the site around 11 p.m. ET on Tuesday, you would have seen the following error: "there is a problem with the resource you are looking for, and it cannot be displayed."
According to a spokesperson for Citizenship and Immigration Canada, there were more than 200,000 users accessing the site at that time, with American IP addresses accounting for approximately 50 per cent of the traffic. We were told that, on average, the percentage of users from American IP addresses ranges from 8.8 per cent to 11.6 per cent.
What does this all mean? It's probably unlikely that we'll see an influx of Americans moving north, but in the short-term, they're certainly exploring the option. The bad news for them is that they might find getting a work permit much more challenging than they expected.
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