Factors Affecting Immigrant Employment Success In Canada

Requirements and Grading

There will be two in-class multiple choice tests, and two take-home essay-type tests. Each covers lectures and readings up to the date administered. The schedule of tests, and weighting in the final grade, are as follows:

Test 1: October 16, 20% of final grade.

Take-home Essay 1: Distributed on Oct. 16 and due one week later (Oct. 23), 30% of final grade.

Take-home Essay 2: Distributed on Nov. 13, and due one week later (Nov. 20), 30% of final grade.

Test 2: December 4, 20% of final grade.

Take-home essays must be submitted in class; email submissions are not accepted. One make-up test will be held for all

students missing an in-class test for valid reasons with documentation (see next section). University policy is that cheating  and misrepresentation will not be tolerated. Students who commit an academic offence face serious penalties. Avoid plagiarism by citing properly: practices acceptable in high school may prove unacceptable in university. Know where you stand by reading the “Code of Behaviour on Academic Matters” in the Calendar of the Faculty of Arts and Science.

Lateness and Missed Tests

Late essays or missed tests are not accommodated without valid reasons and proper documentation. The penalty for late submission of take-home essays without valid reasons supported by documentation is 5 grade points per day of lateness. Regarding documentation of valid reasons for late essays or missed tests, this course follows university policy quoted here:

• If you miss a test or a paper deadline, do not contact the instructor or a TA unless you have followed the steps described below. Telling the professor or TA why you missed a deadline or a test will not be considered.
• In case of illness, you must supply a duly completed “Verification of Student Illness or Injury” form (available at www.illnessverification.utoronto.ca). A doctor’s note is acceptable and must indicate start and anticipated end date of the illness. The form must be placed in a sealed envelope, addressed to the instructor, and submitted with your work.
• If a personal or family crisis prevents you from meeting a deadline, you must get a letter from your college registrar (it is a good idea anyway to advise your college registrar if a crisis is interfering with your studies). The letter must be placed in a sealed envelope, addressed to the instructor, and submitted with your work.

1. Immigration and employment in Canada: theory, context, policy issues September

Immigration, Race, Gender, and Labour Markets

2. Immigrant employment experiences and economic impact September
3. Immigrant human capital, skill utilization, and access to professions September
4. Racial discrimination October
5. Trends in immigrant earnings and institutional context October

Labour Market Processes, Ethnic Communities and Social Capital

6. Ethnic enclaves: businesses, occupations, work settings and social networks October
7. Immigrants and labour unions October
8. Temporary foreign workers and precarious work October
9. Immigrant offspring and the second generation November
10. Global cities and international contexts of immigrant employment November

Policy Issues

11. Immigrant integration policy: settlement, human rights and employment equity November
12. Immigrant selection policy: criteria, evaluation and future directions

Canadian Immigration Selection System

Question 1.

According to recent research, literature and several summery of the study suggested that immigrant employment success is the key research priority in Canada (Martin, 2014). There is the vast amount of research in Canada identified the factors that involved in the emplacement success of immigrants that involves the academic research resources and the government resources (Walsh, 2014). According to Martin (2014), the Canadian immigration selection system mainly emphasizes the education and the other forms of human capital as criteria for admission (Hollifield, Martin, & Orrenius, 2014). There few elements that must be considered in order understanding the immigrant success and to what extent the qualifications of immigrants recognized in the labor market as being equivalent to the qualifications of the Canadian born (Simon & Lynch 2017),. The first factor is the selected policy in order to recruit immigrant employees so that they get the equal priority as the Canadian born (Hollifield, Martin, & Orrenius, 2014). A study by Martin, (2014), suggested that previously less skilled immigrants arrived in Canada within the time period of 1950 to 1960 but later in 1970, the immigrants possess relatively high educational skills as compared to the other immigrants to belong to southern part of Europe  (Razin, 2017). Another study also suggested the qualifications of recent immigrants are substantially higher as compared to southern Europe and this, in turn, compelled the governor bodies to introduce the point-based system (Razin, 2017). This point-based system reflects also reflects that the changes observed in the educational attainment (Reitz, 2007). Subsequently, the introduction of the point based system causes higher economic success as compared to the number of people born in Canada (Reitz, 2007). Moreover, Governor Bodies of Canada also focuses on the official languages knowledge along with the work experience of each immigrant as the requirement for residency in Canada (Fong & Shen, 2016). This acts as the additional advantage for the immigrants for receiving equal recognition as the individual born in Canada (Fong & Shen, 2016). A census report suggested that in 2001, 43.9% of men and 37.5% of women had the higher bachelor degree compared to the native-born population where  16.6% of the men and 21.7% of women had a higher bachelor degree (Reitz, 2007). This report, in turn, suggested that immigrant men get higher advantages as compared to the native-born male. Moreover, immigrants have approximately 0.4 years of education as compared to the native-born population, which suggested that the immigrants are highly educated at a very young age compared to the native-born Canadian individual (Guo, 2015). This it turns advantageous for the immigrants, especially in the metropolitan part of Canada such as Toronto and Vancouver where availability of the jobs (Guo, 2015). Settlement services are also benefitted for the immigrants so that they get equal recognition in the labor market (Castles, De Haas, & Miller, 2013). These services help the immigrants to address the issues such as the immediate housing, employment, and training in the native languages (Castles, De Haas, & Miller, 2013). Thus, to conclude, since the Canadian selection system focuses on the educations, the immigrants receive an equal amount of recognition as the native-born population (Fong & Shen, 2016).

Official Languages and Work Experience Requirements

As indicated above, the Canadian immigrant's selection system solely focuses on the education, high skills of the immigrants and other forms of human capital as the selection criteria for the employment (Abel, & Sander, 2014). The selection criteria also give priorities to the work experiences, knowledge of native languages presuming it will increase the employment of immigrants, which in turn give higher economic status (Abel, & Sander, 2014). Literature studies also supported the selection criteria based on the presumptions in terms of education of education (Castles, De Haas, & Miller, 2013). Moreover, other accumulated evidence also suggested that knowledge of official languages have labor market values in Canada (Ross, 2017). However, most studies also pointed out that despite the higher educational qualifications, the immigrants have lower value in the labor market compared to the native-born Canadians (Pendakur & Pendakur, 2016). Consequently, immigrants have to face obstacles in terms of employment due to foreign schooling and acquired education. Moreover, newly arrived immigrants face a period of adjustment due to the diverse cultural background and migrate without any employment (Abel, & Sander, 2014). Therefore, they faced the barriers when they try to enter the Canadian labor market. The potential size of the barriers mainly related to the recognition of qualification in the work field and underutilization of the skills of the immigrants (Abu-Laban, 2018).The status-based hypothesis suggested that in many organizations, immigrants are recognized as lower in status, eligibility and are not suitable for the superior activity (Castles, De Haas, & Miller, 2013).  Conflict theory of sociology suggested that, since the resources are limited for national development, many organizations priorities their native-born individuals over the immigrants having high qualifications (El-Lahib, 2016). Employment practices may vary in these cases since the Assessment of qualification also varies (Abu-Laban, 2018). Racial differences and discrimination act as another barrier and due to the perception of the racial discrimination, the employment of the immigrants varies in the different work field. A study by Castles, De Haas, & Miller (2013), suggested that immigrants also voice about the biases arises in terms of accessing the license. However, the author also argues that attitude towards immigrants is more favorable in Canada as compared to other countries (El-Lahib, 2016). Moreover, the immigrants do not get access to the union jobs in Canada. Immigrants, particularly the racial minority immigrants, considered as the unskilled one for managerial authorities in the workplaces. Subsequently, they recognized as the “glass ceiling” similar to the women in Canada (El-Lahib, 2016). Another study  suggested that sometimes the immigrants are forced to work for a longer period even after employment successfully without the accurate pay (Razin, 2017). The self-employment is also difficult for the immigrants despite having the appropriate skills. Not only the immigrant policies but the other governor policies also affect the immigrant’s integration. However, despite the obstacles faced by the immigrants in terms of employment, immigrants are recognized as the equally qualified in few sectors as compared to the native Canadian individual.

Settlement Services

Part 2.

Question 4:

Skilled immigrants in Canada are struggling in the labor markets and facing substantially higher unemployment despite having higher qualification as compared to the native-born individuals in Canada (Abu-Laban, 2018). A study by Reitz & Breton (1998), also suggested that even if a considerate number of immigrants employed due to their higher education and other official language skills, the paychecks of immigrants have less zero compared to the native-born Canadian employees (Ghosh, R., & Galczynski, 2014). Researches randomly manipulated thousand of resumes of immigrants in order to measure the effects of foreign experience in workplaces. The result suggested that though the work experiences of immigrants increase in Canada, the resume with any English name receives more callbacks (Castles, De Haas, & Miller, 2013).  Therefore, a racial discrimination existed in Canada, which impacted the experience of employment of immigrant. Discrimination is a complex phenomenon and it has different forms and resources. It can be direct and indirect (Abel, & Sander, 2014).. Mostly direct racial discrimination observed in the unequal application of hiring criteria in the workplace (Abu-Laban, 2018). The racial discrimination of the immigrants mainly influences by adapting the negative attitude towards the minority along with a tendency to exclude them. Negative stereotypes about the work potential of immigration affected the work experience of the immigrants. The difference can be indirect where the nature of hiring criteria themselves.

In Toronto, a field trial conducted in 1984 suggested that white people receive three times higher job offers compared to the black people who are immigrants in Canada (Reitz & Breton 1998). It was observed that black people are told that the job has been filled where the white people receive a callback for the interview (Fong & Shen, 2016). This evidences along with other accumulated evidence suggested that the racial differences significantly reduce the labor market opportunities for immigrants despite having the higher qualification than native-born people (Castles, De Haas, & Miller, 2013). Other field trial suggested that the similar findings as the above study. The research procedures specified that black applicants approach the employers first as compared to the white applicants (Ross, 2017). Very few scenarios highlighted that the action where black applicant hired in the spot based on the qualification. These in turn, highlighted the employer biases to the native-born and desire to exclude the immigrants who might have higher educational skills and work experiences (Fong & Shen, 2016). Different immigrants along with government Policy of Canada become stringent for immigrants that affect the integration of the immigrants in the labor market (Guo, 2015). Even employers are susceptible to discrimination while hiring jobs based on the prejudices and previous experience with the individual during job hiring (Ross, 2017). Therefore, the skilled immigrants struggled to entire in the labor market with equal qualification. Although social distances and racial attitude score has improved over the years and white people become supportive of the immigrants in terms of job, the higher level of racial conflict still existed in Canada. Immigrants find it difficult to be employed due to cultural dimensions and employment trends see to be conflicted when recruiting the immigrants (Guo, 2015). Therefore, due to cultural dimensions, the assessment of skills for the immigrants also differs which reflect the biases of the organization in Canada and produce negative experiences for the immigrants (Martin, 2014). The racial differences also highlighted in terms of gender. Nurses, from the woodland hospital, stated that traditionally black nurses bear economical hardships as compared to the native-born Canadian. Moreover, considering the educational ground, due to racial differences native-born Canadian more opportunities of the job compared to the immigrants (Pendakur & Pendakur, 2016). In very few cases, the racial distinctions are ignored by the organizations due to the availability of the jobs in metropolitan cities (Fong & Shen, 2016). Moreover, few studies also suggested that occupational specific values of work experiences are not always priorities by the employers. It is often observed that most recent immigrants are obligated to work in the occupations that are not relevant to their training and experiences (Pendakur & Pendakur, 2016). Sometimes, the occupation may not be related to their educational skills of immigrants as well. Subsequently, the value of their work experiences may evaporate. This affected their employment experiences and they face the hardship of life. The racial discrimination in terms of monitoring trade and license monitoring also observed in Canada (Pendakur & Pendakur, 2016). This inequality overall affected the annual earning of the immigrants. Immigrants are obliged to work in poorly paid jobs due to racial discrimination and sometimes organization authorities are reluctant about such incidents even if it is highlighted (Guo, 2015). This, in turn, influences the experience of employment of the immigrants. Studies that compared the earning of the immigrants and native-born Canadians suggested that immigrants have lower earnings compared to native borns, which can be attributed to the gender race, and other features that are not associated with the educations. Consequently, earning differentials and disparities influences the productivity of the individuals along with the unequal opportunity (Ross, 2017). The gender discrimination also coincides with the racial discrimination since the immigrant's women and men differ in terms of opportunities compared to their native counterpart. Immigrant women are more subjected to the racial, differences due to gender and men are subjected to the racial differences in terms of their birthplace and language proficiency (Castles, De Haas, & Miller, 2013).  This lower their actual earning compared to what they expected to earn in Canada. However, a study  argues that after adjustment in the foreign countries the immigrant men tend to earn higher than native-born men but immigrant women earn less amount of money compared to the women belong to Canada (Castles, De Haas, & Miller, 2013). Studies comparing the economic status suggested that after many legislation and policies the immigrant European earns higher in Canada compared to the native-born male but racial differences existed in-between the black and white people (Abu-Laban, 2018). consequently, the self-employment is also difficult for immigrants in Canada. The biases can be reduced with proper education given to each organization (Castles, De Haas, & Miller, 2013).

References :

Abel, G. J., & Sander, N. (2014). Quantifying global international migration flows. Science, 343(6178), 1520-1522.

Abu-Laban, Y. (2018). Recognition, Re-distribution and Solidarity: The Case of Multicultural Canada. In Diversity and Contestations over Nationalism in Europe and Canada (pp. 237-262). Palgrave Macmillan, London.

Bakker, L., Dagevos, J., & Engbersen, G. (2017). Explaining the refugee gap: a longitudinal study on labour market participation of refugees in the Netherlands. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 43(11), 1775-1791.

Castles, S., De Haas, H., & Miller, M. J. (2013). The age of migration: International population movements in the modern world. Macmillan International Higher Education.

El-Lahib, Y. (2016). Troubling constructions of Canada as a ‘land of opportunity’for immigrants: a critical disability lens. Disability & society, 31(6), 758-776.

Fong, E., & Shen, J. (2016). Participation in voluntary associations and social contact of immigrants in Canada. American Behavioral Scientist, 60(5-6), 617-636.

Ghosh, R., & Galczynski, M. (2014). Redefining multicultural education: Inclusion and the right to be different. Canadian Scholars’ Press.

Guo, S. (2015). The colour of skill: contesting a racialised regime of skill from the experience of recent immigrants in Canada. Studies in Continuing Education, 37(3), 236-250.

Hollifield, J., Martin, P. L., & Orrenius, P. (Eds.). (2014). Controlling immigration: A global perspective. Stanford University Press.

Martin, L.P. (2014). The United States The Continuing Immigration Debate. doi: 2018-10-21 12:54:55.

Pendakur, K., & Pendakur, R. (2016). Which Child Immigrants Face Earnings Disparity? Age?at?immigration, Ethnic Minority Status and Labour Market Attainment in Canada. International Migration, 54(5), 43-58.

Razin, E. (2017). Immigrant entrepreneurs in Israel, Canada, and California. In Immigration and entrepreneurship (pp. 97-124). Routledge.

Reitz, J. (2007). Immigrant Employment Success in Canada, Part I: Individual and Contextual Causes. Journal Of International Migration And Integration / Revue De L'integration Et De La Migration Internationale, 8(1), 11-36. doi: 10.1007/s12134-007-0001-4

Reitz, J., & Breton, R. (1998). Prejudice And Discriminacion In Canada And the United States: A Comparison.

Ross, J. (2017). Violence in Canada: sociopolitical perspectives. Routledge.

Simon, R. J., & Lynch, J. P. (2017). A comparative assessment of criminal involvement among immigrants and natives across seven nations. In Migration, Culture Conflict and Crime (pp. 69-88). Routledge.

Walsh, J. (2014). From nations of immigrants to states of transience: Temporary migration in Canada and Australia. International Sociology, 29(6), 584-606.