This document discusses the challenges faced by skilled immigrants in Canada, particularly in finding employment that matches their education and experience. While many immigrants have university degrees or higher, they often face unemployment rates much higher than Canadian-born workers and struggle to have their foreign credentials recognized. Recent immigrants with degrees are five times more likely to be unemployed than similarly educated Canadian-born individuals. Various factors contribute to this "immigrant unemployment gap," including lack of Canadian work experience, discrimination, and devaluation of foreign credentials. While advocacy and support programs exist, highly educated immigrants continue to face significant barriers to having their skills and training fully utilized in Canada's workforce.

1. TheMoretheEducation,theBiggerthegap.

2. HowFavourable isCanada asaImmigration Destination?

3. 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.

4. REALITYAS 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

5. “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

6. 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 bygender&age,2014
25to40
Male Female
http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/resources/statistics/facts2014/permanent/05.asp#figure3
Age Bubble

7. “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

8. 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

9. 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)

10. 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%

11. 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?

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

13. 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.

14. 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

15.  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

16. •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?

17. 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