Analyzing The Impact Of Employment On The Mental Health Of Immigrants In Canada - Research Findings

Immigrants in Canada and their mental health issues due to employment challenges

The main aim of this paper is to analyze and criticize a number of different peer- reviewed articles and journals that discusses the quality of life of immigrants in Canada, and a rising issue of unemployment among them. The findings from the same are being outlined and discussed below.

As the research has also identified that majority of the immigrant economic immigrants and have come to Canada for employment they experience a huge amount of mental health problems because of their skills being not identified by others. The mental health is impacted due to unemployment, underemployment and term employment on the immigrants in Canada (Nwalutu2019). George and others (2015) have also challenged the current Canadian system of immigrant attraction and employment. This has been found that 1/5 of the Canadian employees’ experience some or the other kind of mental health problems each year. Both the researches present a detailed investigation of the mental health of the immigrants and expresses complete detailed research about the potentials of mental health damage. According to the findings of the all the research unemployment and under employment creates a huge stress on the immigrants and therefore create a huge negative impact. the researches have also highlighted over the fact that distress of the immigrants fails due to unemployment and term employment often leads to the negative impact such as de-skilling and non-recognition of their skills and talents because of their foreign origin. This in turn puts a negative impact on the flow of the work. the researches also discuss about the physical stress that the immigrants face due to their mental disorders. The findings of the study clearly, he marks the hardships and the problems that the immigrant employees face in getting an employment Canada. The research have found that 47% of the migrants who could speak English fluently we're unable to get jobs according to their expertise. For further detailed study of the researcheshe has also explained that the under- utilization of the skills had created a negative impact on the mental health of the employees (Reid 2012). The researches finds that even after the skilled immigrants have been expatriated to their country find it very difficult to have a high paying job or a secured position leading to high stress anxiety and unhappiness among the immigrant workers. The findings of the study has been supported by another independent study by Udah H, & Singh (2019) which has studied over the problem of employment among African immigrants in Australia . as per the findings of this researches it has been found that today individuals have a very unequal power relations with each other even in their day- to- day activities. The article points to the fact that the differences in their cultural also impacts the position in this society. 

The article explores the areas where a strict cultural difference has been identified such as in the collectiveness and individualism among the African and Australian communities. It clearly stated in the findings of the researches that the Australians and mainly defined by I and you whereas the Africans are more collective in nature hence they have a very contradictory social identity from the Australians. This often results to various discrimination and marginalization of this community. According to the findings of the research it has also been found that this community is often subjected to positions of domination, subordination and marginalization due to various negative stereotypes (Udah H, & Singh 2019). This also becomes a very major obstacle for them in getting recruitments. The researches also describe about the immigrants are unable to overcome these various limitations and gain efficient positions in their society. this study takes a clear support of the Canadian situation and even mentions these same aspects in it. As Canada and Australia both are multicultural societies the researches clearly demarcate the problems at situations of both the countries through their study. the researches also explore the fact of marginalization and employment as well as their impact on mental health and society identity of the individuals thorough research they have identified that most of the foreign born Canadian have experience some of the other kind of psychological problem due to their in competences between the cultural aspects as well as their social cultural norms of Canada. However, the opinions of the previous three researchers have been refuted by Kaushik (2018) in his research. According to the research of it was clearly defined and identified that the Canadian government has different schemes that attract large number of immigrants in order to address the shortage of skills in the identified labor market of Canada. However, the researches have also defined that there is a significant number of barriers in proper integration of the skilled immigrants within the social structure of Canada.

Research studies identifying the challenges faced by immigrants in Canada

Providing a further insight and a greater study Reid (2012) his research has stated that immigrants in Australia where mainly studied based on their employment skills. According to the findings of the study it was stated that most of the migrants were underutilized and their skills were not accounted for because of their inability to speak English efficiently. Flip the researches has also suggested few of the recommendations through which it was clearly identified that Australian government was ignoring the underemployment issue and its impact on the mental health of the skilled migrants (George et al 2015). As Australia was progressing of attracting new employees from overseas in order to expand their economy it clearly overlooked the factor that the employees were not getting jobs according to their skills leading to a higher professional dissatisfaction and immigrant issues. 

It has been clearly identified by the Canadian government that it needs to integrate skilled immigrants in Canada so that they could improve their employment status as well as language and culture. As per the findings of the researches it has been clearly defined that the immigrant workers find difficulty in terms of recognition of their previous work experience (Nwalutu 2019). The researches have stated that even though Canada attract a lot of international immigrants with skills and talents the work experience of the individuals is not recognized in this country so is there skills. Canadian organizations have found to be looking for Canadian experiences amongst the new immigrants which is impossible to show and that clearly impacts the mental health and employment status of the individuals. The researches had also highlighted the discrimination the immigrants face compared to the Canadian bond workers. 

Unemployment is a very serious challenge that immigrates have to face after arriving in Canada. This does not just reduce their quality of life, but also takes away their financial support. This is seen to have a negative impact on the different spheres of ones’ life. A few common impacts of unemployment or underemployment are being discussed and analyzed below. The claims are cited academically (Hilbrecht, Smale & Mock, 2017).

One of the biggest impacts of unemployment among immigrants are the issue of the Canadian labor market and the ‘Canadian experience’ of immigrants within the same. It is seen that immigrants are often under the impression that the rules and policies of Canada creates a better environment for them to live in. This is a part of the Canadian experience’, along with educational, professional and cultural growth. However, once they enter Canada it is realized that labor jobs are meant for immigrants and the working conditions within the same is extremely poor. The government of Canada claims that the country or the individuals within the same do not exhibit any discrimination towards individuals belonging to different races (Premji & Shakya, 2017). It was also discussed how Canada is the first country without any majority race.

On the other hand, the issue of underemployment of the immigrants also revealed their detrimental impacts on the health outcomes of the immigrants. Even though many employment opportunities are available in Canada, the immigrants are often treated poorly. They are also hired only for labor- based job opportunities. The job security of these individuals is also limited. This period of unemployment is seen to interact with the physical and mental health issues within the relevant individual. Poor coping strategies or lack of proper diet often makes them more vulnerable to the development of these two issues. The results of the research conducted in this paper studies the relation between the health of the immigrants and its relationship to their unemployment. The study reveals that poor health conditions are very closely associated with lack of financial support. When immigrants pass into Canada, they do not have any currency (George & Chaze, 2014). However, without proper financial support it becomes difficult to carry out day- to-day opportunities. Therefore, these individuals immediately start to look for any job. The ones who are not chosen are the one’ who suffer the most. They often get extremely sick due to lack of proper diet and exercise. The development of mental health issues like clinical depression and anxiety are also very common among these individuals.

Marginalization issue among African immigrants in Australia and Canada

It is seen that employment and its connection with quality of life among immigrants in Canada. A thorough study was conducted, and this research revealed that the quality of life for immigrants in Canada are extremely poor. Immigrants who want to experience the ‘Canadian experience’ are often not even able to get a secure job. Unemployment and quality life are directly linked to each other in this context. Unemployment negatively impacted the physical and mental health of participants and their families. It did so directly, for example through social isolation, as well as indirectly through representation in poor quality jobs. Unemployment additionally led to the intensification of job search strategies and of the household/caregiving workload which also negatively impacts quality of life (Ku et al., 2018). Health problems, in turn, contributed to pushing participants into long-term substandard employment trajectories. Participants’ experiences were heavily structured by their social location as low -income racialized immigrant women. Thus, it can be clearly seen that financial support is extreme necessary for immigrants to improve their quality of life. It will also help in the creation of the diverse society as the Canadian government has outlined.

The employees who have under -went engineering training within Canada were preferred both by the clients and the employers. Many organizations choose Canadian training in different streams of work as their first preference, and as a result the issue of unemployment among Canadian immigrants are seen to rise continuously. This forces them to go back to school to get the necessary skills required for a job. However, education is costly and in order to avail the educational facilities available within the country, a significant financial support is required. This is the main reason they choose to work as laborers under unsafe and difficult conditions, and pays them minimum wage for the same.

In conclusion, this literature review reveals how the immigrants are incorporated within the Canadian society, and the different challenges related to unemployment or underemployment on a regular basis.

Reference:

Nwalutu, F. I. (2019) Canadian Labour Market as a Dispiriting Phenomenon on Skilled Migrants: Mental Health Consequences on Immigrant Canadians. Sociology Mind, 9, 151-167. doi: 10.4236/sm.2019.93011.

Udah H, & Singh, P. (2019) Identity, Othering and belonging: toward an understanding of difference and the experiences of African immigrants to Australia, Social Identities, 25:6, 843-859, DOI: 10.1080/13504630.2018.1564268

Reid, A. (2012), Under-use of migrants' employment skills linked to poorer mental health. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health, 36: 120-125. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1753-6405.2012.00842.x

Kaushik, V.; Drolet, J. Settlement and Integration Needs of Skilled Immigrants in Canada. Soc. Sci. 2018, 7, 76. https://doi.org/10.3390/socsci7050076

George, U., Thomson, M., Chaze, F., & Guruje, S. (2015). Immigrant Mental Health, A Public Health Issue: Looking Back and Moving Forward. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 12(10), 13624-13648. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph121013624

Ku, J., Bhuyan, R., Sakamoto, I., Jeyapal, D., & Fang, L. (2019). “Canadian Experience” discourse and anti-racialism in a “post-racial” society. Ethnic and Racial Studies, 42(2), 291-310.

Premji, S., & Shakya, Y. (2017). Pathways between under/unemployment and health among racialized immigrant women in Toronto. Ethnicity & health, 22(1), 17-35.

Hilbrecht, M., Smale, B., & Mock, S. E. (2017). The relationship between perceived underemployment and wellbeing: evidence from mid-size Canadian cities. Applied Research in Quality of Life, 12(3), 607-631.

George, U., & Chaze, F. (2014). Discrimination at Work: Comparing the Experiences of Foreign-trained and Locally-trained Engineers in Canada. Canadian Ethnic Studies 46(1), 1-21. doi:10.1353/ces.2014.0002.