• News
  • Events
  • Funding
  • Fundraising
  • Professional Development
  • Research
  • Resources
  • Submissions
• Events
  • Calendar
  • Family Literacy Day
  • Past Events
  • Raise a Reader
• Adults
• Families
• Workplace
• Practitioners
• Capacity Building
• Partnerships
  • Opportunities Program
  • Connecting the Dots
  • Family Literacy Day
  • Raise a Reader
• Literacy in NL

Immigrant wage and employment gaps persist: RBC Economics

TORONTO, Dec. 19, 2011 /CNW/ - Despite higher education levels, Canadian immigrants experience higher unemployment rates and lower incomes than workers born in the country, according to a new report issued today by RBC Economics. The report, Immigrant Labour Market Outcomes in Canada: The Benefits of Addressing Wage and Employment Gaps, estimates that the potential increased incomes for immigrants if observable skills were rewarded similarly to Canadian-born workers is $30.7 billion or 2.1 per cent of GDP in 2006 (the latest census data available).

"Employment growth is slowing as Canada's population ages, which make it essential that every worker produce at their full potential. Underutilizing skilled labour is a gap we need to fill and immigrants represent more than 20 per cent of our population," said Dawn Desjardins, assistant chief economist, RBC. "Even small improvements in immigrant outcomes could contribute positively to the Canadian economy."

The report outlines the increasing size of the immigrant employment and wage gap in Canada during the past 30 years. While there was little difference between the unemployment rates of new immigrants and the Canadian-born in 1981, a large gap emerged during the 1980s and 1990s. By 2006, immigrants had unemployment rates that were significantly higher than those of Canadian born — 6.9 per cent for immigrants, compared to 6.4 per cent for the Canadian born. In 2005, the entire population of immigrants working full time in Canada earned an average of $45,000 yearly, which is about $700 or two per cent less than the average wage for Canadian-born workers; however, the most recent among them earned just $28,700, on average.

Read the full article HERE. [via Canada News Wire].

Featured Events

Literacy NL Google Calendar