Canada / Immigrants : Less likely to report a good education-job-skills-employment-earnings matches found StatCan

“Unlike the waves of immigrants who arrived in the 1950s and 1960s, those arriving in Canada since the 1970s have possessed relatively high educational levels, making an enormous contribution to the pool of individuals in Canada with postsecondary qualifications. Upon their arrival however, many immigrants initially face difficulties finding employment related to their field of study as well as finding jobs that pay relatively high wages” writes Johanne Plante in Integration of Internationally-educated Immigrants into the Canadian Labour Market: Determinants of Success published on statcan.gc.ca

“… Immigrants possess certain ‘given’ characteristics (i.e., they either completed their highest level of education in Canada or abroad, and they landed in Canada during different time periods). Their outcomes in the Canadian labour market (positive or not) can then be influenced by various socio-demographic characteristics (i.e., sex, age, marital status, presence of children), educational characteristics (level of education and major instructional program), geographical location (province, territory and area of residence), as well as by their language ability in one of the two official languages, whether they belong to a visible minority group, and, in the case of Employment outcome #1, by the full/part-time and full/part-year status of employment.”

The author then identifies “… the factors and determinants most likely leading to a ‘successful’ integration of internationally-educated immigrants in the Canadian labour market…”

The findings

“As shown by the 2006 Census, internationally-educated immigrant paid workers were generally less likely than Canadian-born paid workers with a postsecondary education to report a good education-job skills or education-employment earnings matches. Internationally-educated immigrant paid workers were also less likely than their counterparts educated in Canada to report working in their field or in an equivalent occupation. Such comparison was not possible with regard to the likelihood of having a good education-employment earnings match as results were not statistically significant for full-time full-year immigrant paid workers with credentials from Canada.”

“Regions from which credentials were obtained had a clear impact on the likelihood of being employed in associated or equivalent occupations for these paid workers. Other than for immigrants with credentials from countries in Northern Europe (and Oceania, in the case of education-employment earnings match), immigrants who completed their highest level of postsecondary education in all other regions outside Canada were less likely than paid workers born in Canada to report ‘positive’ labour market outcomes.”

“Time elapsed since landing also figured among the characteristics and determinants more closely associated with ‘positive’ labour market outcomes for internationally-educated immigrant paid workers in 2006. In fact, those established in the country for more than ten years were generally more likely than their recent and very-recent counterparts to be working in the best corresponding or an equivalent occupation or to report a good education-employment earnings match.”

“Provincially, paid workers living in Alberta and the territories were more likely than their counterparts in Ontario and the other provinces to report working in the best corresponding or an equivalent occupation or to report a good education-employment earnings match. On the other hand, paid workers residing in the Atlantic Provinces, followed closely by those in Quebec, had the lowest probabilities of having such ‘positive’ outcomes in the Canadian labour market.”

“ … The likelihood of having good education-job skills and education-employment earnings matches was higher for paid workers having knowledge of English only (and of both official languages in the case of the education-job skills match), compared to those with other language profiles.”

Source & details @ : Integration of Internationally-educated Immigrants into the Canadian Labour Market: Determinants of Success