Canada / Immigrants / Employment increased 4.3% in 2011 while virtually unchanged among core-aged Canadian born

In 2011, employment among landed immigrants in the core working-age group of 25 to 54 increased 4.3% from the previous year. The majority of the growth occurred among established immigrants who had been in the country for more than 10 years. Over the same period, employment among core-aged Canadian born was virtually unchanged.

The employment rate of core-aged immigrants in 2011 was 75.6%, compared with 82.9% for their Canadian-born counterparts. (The employment rate for any given group is the number of employed as a share of the total population in that group.)

The 2011 employment rate for core-aged landed immigrants was still 1.8 percentage points lower than in 2008, the start of the economic downturn. This was mostly because their growth in employment did not keep pace with the growth in their population.

Among Canadian born, the employment rate also fell between 2008 and 2011, down 1.2 percentage points. This was, however, the result of employment decline (-1.8%), as their population remained relatively stable.

Employment rates were progressively higher the longer immigrants had been in the country. In 2011, these rates ranged from 63.5% among those in the country for five years or less (very recent immigrants) to 79.8% among those here for more than a decade.

Immigrant employment rates highest on the Prairies

Immigrants living on the Prairies and in British Columbia accounted for more than half the growth in employment among Canada’s landed immigrants in 2011.

While these immigrants made up 31% of Canada’s immigrant workforce, they accounted for 53% of the immigrant employment growth in 2011 compared with the previous year.

In Saskatchewan, where the overall labour market was relatively stable during the downturn, immigrant employment showed increases. Employment growth for very recent immigrants, in particular, doubled between 2008 and 2011. This brought their employment rate to 77.0%, second highest after their counterparts in Manitoba.

Chart 1

Rate of employment among immigrants and Canadian born aged 25 to 54, by province or region, 2011

Since 2006, when the immigrant labour force data series started, immigrants born in the Philippines have had the highest employment rate of all groups, including those born in Canada, who ranked second, while immigrants born in Europe had the third-highest rate.

In 2011, nearly half (48%) the immigrant labour force of the core working-age was born in Asia. Those born in the Philippines made up 18% of this population, second only to India (19%) and well ahead of China (14%).

The employment rate in 2011 among Filipino-born immigrants aged 25 to 54 was 85.6%, higher than the rate of 82.9% for the Canadian-born population and well above the rate of 73.1% for the Asian-born population as a whole.

Chart 2 
Highest employment rate among immigrants born in the Philippines

Choosen excerpts by Job Market Monitor from

via The Daily — Study: Canada’s immigrant labour market, 2008 to 2011.