The More the Education, the Bigger the gap.

How Favourable is Canada as a Immigration Destination?

AVERAGE EARNINGS OF THIS DEMOGRAPHIC

Average weekly wages and salaries of employees aged 25 to 54 who worked mainly full time, by

age and immigrant status, 2007

When compared to Canadian-born workers, higher levels of education for recent immigrants did

not narrow the wage gap; in fact, it widened it. In 2007, recent immigrants with no

postsecondary education earned, on average, 29% less than similarly educated Canadian-born

workers, while immigrants with university degrees earned 31% less than university-educated

Canadian-born employees.

Source: Statistics Canada, Labour Force Survey, 2007.

REALITY AS OF 2014 In both Ontario and B.C., the gap between university-

educated job-seekers has been widening:

You're almost five times as likely to be out of work if you're a

recent immigrant with a university degree in Ontario

“The Canadian Contradiction: We pride ourselves on being

so open to newcomers, but this “Canadian Experience” piece that is

lacking is held against them. – so much so, that the Ontario Human

Rights Commission made it a violation for an employer to use

this reason not to hire someone.”

People wait for the Service Canada employment centre

to open in Montreal. Statscan said Tuesday it needs to

restate employment figures for July.

THE CANADIAN PRESS/Ryan Remiorz

Ontario now the worst place

for educated immigrants

looking for work (2014)

By Anna Mehler Paperny Senior Producer, Investigative

Data Desk Global News

The employment rate for

immigrants with university

degrees who completed another

program was 5.4 percentage

points higher compared with

immigrants who did not

(73.4% versus 68.0%).

It was 8.8 percentage points

higher among recent immigrants

who completed another program

compared with those who did

not, and 3.6 percentage points

higher among established

immigrants who completed

further studies compared with

those who did not. 2014 Stats Canada

According to data Statistics Canada crunched

for Global News, 14 per cent of university-

educated immigrants who’ve come to Canada in

the last five years are without a job – more than

their counterparts with a post-secondary

certificate or high-school diploma.

These underemployed immigrants are

costing the country billions annually.

Canada - Permanent Residents by gender & age, 2014

25 to 40

Male Female

http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/resources/statistics/facts2014/permanent/05.asp#figure3

Age Bubble

“After all the efforts that

Canada and Ontario and

organizations like ours

have made in trying to

level the playing field …

it’s very disheartening,”

she said. “Because

despite the great

practices we’ve

uncovered and

promoted, both in terms

of hiring and bridging

opportunities for

immigrants, the two

worlds of employers and

immigrants often are not

on the same page.”

Unemployment:

Immigrants have higher rates of unemployment than the

Canadian-born (Desjardins and Cornelson 2011) and tend to

occupy low paying seasonal or contract jobs offering few

to no employment benefits.

Discrimination

Immigrants entering from “non traditional” source regions

have been shown to have lower earnings at entry, even with

experience and education equivalent to those born in Canada.

Also, the rate of low income for immigrants (many of whom are

members of racialized groups) has been steadily increasing.

The hypothesis that racism and discrimination play a role in

immigrant unemployment. A study by Oreopoulos and Dechif

(2011) found that job applicants with English-sounding names

on their resumes were 45 per cent more likely to be invited for

and interview than applicants with Chinese or Indian Names,

regardless of both having comparable training and experience.

The Conference Board of Canada

As Table 1 shows, the proportion of PhDs held by immigrants and

non-immigrants in Canada is roughly equal—50.4 per cent and

49.6 per cent, respectively.1 Just over three in five (62.2 per cent)

were earned at Canadian institutions and nearly two in five

(37.8 per cent) were earned from institutions outside Canada.

Immigrants with PhDs have important contributions to make to

Canada’s economic and social well-being, but a number of barriers

limit their ability to effectively use and benefit

from their education and skills.

http://www.conferenceboard.ca/topics/education/commentaries/15-02-04/immigrants_with_phds_difficult_transitions_marginal_advantages.aspx

Location of Study

Very Recent immigrants (landed five years or fewer) struggle most in

their quest for employment, having an employment rate

of 68.4 percent and an unemployment rate of

11.6 percent as compared to the Canadian-born

who, also bearing a degree, have a comparatively

low unemployment rate (2.8 per cent)

and high employment rate (90.9 per cent)

Some explanations: education obtained abroad

is discounted, worth only 70 percent of Canadian

education. Their “foreign” work experience is also

discounted and worth only one-third of what

Canadian-born experience is valued .

(Alboim, Finnie, and Meng 2005)

Skills mismatch issued in Canada has resulted in

over half (51.6 per cent) of immigrants were overqualified for

their jobs based on their education levels, four years after their

arrival in Canada. (Chen, Smith, and Mustard 2010)

Welfare Reform in Canada: Provincial Social Assistance in Comparative

edited by Daniel B‚land, Pierre-Marc Daigneault

“The stereotype of the

educated immigrant

driving a taxi proving

to indeed be true.” (as compared to

35 per cent for Canadian-

born taxi drivers)

Lowe, S. and Ortiz, A. 2015. Considering

Canada: A Look at the Views of

Prospective Skilled Immigrants. New York:

World Education Services.

Applicants Highest Level Of Education

Master's degree 42%

Bachelor's degree 52%

Doctoral degree 3%

Other degree ( e.g. Postdoctoral) 1%

Associate's degree 1%

High School diploma 1%

In 2013, the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration Canada created a new requirement that

individuals applying to immigrate to Canada through the Federal Skilled Worker Program (FSWP)

must submit an educational credential assessment (ECA) for foreign credentials.

The ECA process helps determine the authenticity and Canadian equivalency of foreign educational

credentials for the purpose of designating appropriate education points for the FSWP.

•http://www.wes.org/application/apply_now.asp?

Equivalency questions?

•http://www.wes.org/evaluations/preliminary.asp?

Lowe, S. and Ortiz, A. 2015. Considering Canada: A Look at the Views of Prospective Skilled Immigrants. New York: World Education Services.

Skilled Immigrant Profile

Local Help for This Demographic There are more agencies in the Toronto, Vancouver and Montreal areas as

they are popular choices in Landing, which is chosen before immigrating.

Locally The Multicultural Centre in Kitchener offers a program that works

specifically with this demographic to define goals, and create a plan of action

that will give these new Canadians Hope for a brighter future after

their disillusionment has been addressed.

Anticipated Career Impact of Migration to Canada 65% Significant positive impact

27% Some positive impact

5% Some negative impact

2% No Impact

0.4% Some negative impact

Advocacy

Connect with local

government to apply

pressure for changes in

policy

Encourage immigrants to

get involved with local

government to affect

change for their

demographic

Use networking and

appeals for change

(squeaky wheel gets the oil

principle)

Counselling

Deal with disillusionment and

the issue of realistic

possibilities

Help candidate by connecting

them to specialty associations

and peer mentoring groups that

can provide experiential

support

Use strategic and targeted

volunteer work as well as

upgrading to provide important

boost of existing educational

accreditation

•Language Assessment

•Network Assessment

•Career Goals

•Online Learning

•Language Training Programs

•Bridging Programs

•Continuing Education

•Educational Loan Programs

•Mentoring

•PINs

•http://www.wes.org/community/index.asp?

RESOURCES http://globalnews.ca/news/1074811/immigrant-unemployment/

http://www.statcan.gc.ca/daily-quotidien/150911/dq150911b-eng.htm

https://www.wes.org/ca/info/WES_Considering_Canada_report.pdf

http://www.conferenceboard.ca/topics/education/commentaries/15-02-

04/immigrants_with_phds_difficult_transitions_marginal_advantages.aspx

http://triec.ca/

https://www.wes.org/

Welfare Reform in Canada: Provincial Social Assistance in Comparative .edited by Daniel B‚land, Pierre-Marc Daigneault