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 universityeducated 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.
Ontario now the worst place
for educated immigrants
looking for work (2014)
By Anna Mehler Paperny Senior Producer, Investigative
Data Desk Global News

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

Age Bubble
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%).

Canada - Permanent
Residents by gender & age, 2014

25 to 40

Male Female

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 universityeducated immigrants whove 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.

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

After all the efforts that

Unemployment:

Canada and Ontario and

Immigrants have higher rates of unemployment than the

organizations like ours

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

have made in trying to

occupy low paying seasonal or contract jobs offering few

to no employment benefits.

level the playing field

its very disheartening,

Discrimination

she said. Because

Immigrants entering from non traditional source regions

despite the great

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

practices weve

uncovered and

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.

promoted, both in terms

The hypothesis that racism and discrimination play a role in

of hiring and bridging

immigrant unemployment. A study by Oreopoulos and Dechif

opportunities for

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

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

immigrants, the two

and interview than applicants with Chinese or Indian Names,

worlds of employers and

regardless of both having comparable training and experience.

immigrants often are not

on the same page.

The Conference Board of Canada

Location of Study

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

non-immigrants in Canada is roughly equal50.4 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
Canadas 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

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 Bland, Pierre-Marc Daigneault

The stereotype of the

educated immigrant
driving a taxi proving
to indeed be true.
(as compared to
35 per cent for Canadianborn taxi drivers)

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%

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

Canada: A Look at the Views of
Prospective Skilled Immigrants. New York:
World Education Services.

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?

Skilled Immigrant Profile

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

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%
27%
5%
2%
0.4%

Significant positive impact

Some positive impact
Some negative impact
No Impact
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/15-0204/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 Bland, Pierre-Marc Daigneault