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Even those educated in Canada had lower employment rates
Immigrants are less likely to find work in Canada than their Canadian-born counterparts, even if they’ve been educated at North American universities, a new Statistics Canada report released Friday suggests.
“What it shows is it’s not necessarily just a credential issue,” said Jason Gilmore, an analyst with Statistics Canada. “Even immigrants educated in Canada still have a low employment rate.”
The study marks the first time the federal agency has looked at where job-seeking immigrants received their education. It found that working-aged immigrants between 25 and 54 had low employment rates in 2007, even if they graduated from a Canadian or American post-secondary institution.
For example, 90 per cent of Canadian-born university graduates were employed in 2007, compared to 77 per cent of immigrants with Asian educations.
Experts suggest that another explanation for the discrepancy is that immigrants, whether they graduated in their own countries or in Canada, tend to be five years younger than Canadian-born university graduates.
“Given their age, it’s possible they have less overall work experience,” said Gilmore. “Also, if you’ve just arrived in Canada you likely don’t have as much Canadian experience.”
The study also indicates that the gaps are narrower for immigrants who have been in Canada for longer periods of time.
Gender was also an important factor. Immigrant women represented nearly half of university-educated immigrants who arrived between 2002 and 2007.
However, their participation in the labour force was significantly lower than among men, particularly if they were born or educated in Asia.
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