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Other articles: Immigrants face barriers to employment
Immigrants come to Canada with high hopes of building happy and prosperous lives for themselves but once here most of them are unable to work in their careers of choice. They face high levels of unemployment or underemployment.
In 1998, poverty amongst recent immigrants was double the Canadian rate and their annual wages and salaries were one-third less than those of other Canadians. The poverty and unemployment rates amongst groups of recent immigrants were especially high.
Poverty in the Somali community in Toronto was estimated to be 62.7 per cent according to data from the 1996 Census. Poverty amongst Canadians of European origin was 14 per cent.
Unemployment rates were also much higher. In
the Somali community, the unemployment rate was estimated to be 23.6
per cent in 1996; employment amongst Torontonians of
European ancestry was seven per cent. (Ethno-Racial
Inequality in Toronto by Michael Ornstein, City of Toronto, 2002)(PDF file, Acrobat
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Immigration Canada statistics indicate that recent immigrants are highly educated; 36 per cent of immigrant men and 31 per cent of women have university degrees. By comparison, 18 per cent of Canadian-born men and 20 per cent of women have university degrees. But many immigrants find that their academic credentials have little value at Canadian universities and employers.
The barrier to meaningful employment for immigrants has a deep negative impact on both the immigrants who may experience reduced confidence, stress and health problems and on the economy of Toronto through increased social service costs, brain drain, losses to employers who are unable to find skilled employees, loss of tax revenue, etc..
