Tuesday, May 13, 2008

Canada's immigrant labour market

Employment among immigrants aged 25 to 54, that is, core working age, increased 2.1% in 2007, thanks in large part to gains among immigrants in Quebec. Despite this increase, the employment rate gap between immigrants and the Canadian born widened.

Employment among core working age immigrants rose by 52,000, or 2.1%, from 2006. This was stronger than the 1.3% growth among the Canadian born in the same age group.

Despite these gains in 2007, the employment rate gap between immigrants and the Canadian born widened, as the population of immigrants increased much faster than their employment. While the immigrant employment rate edged up 0.2 percentage points to 77.9%, the employment rate for the Canadian born rose by 0.7 percentage points to 83.8%.

A new report analyzing the labour market for immigrants in 2007 showed that employment for immigrants aged 25 to 54 reached nearly 2.5 million. Full-time employment, which accounted for 90% of those jobs, increased 3.0%.

In 2007, over one-half of growth in employment among core working-age immigrants occurred in Quebec (+28,000).

While the unemployment rate for immigrant women remained higher and the employment rate remained lower than that of immigrant men, employment for immigrant women aged 25 to 54 increased markedly in 2007 (+47,000). This accounted for the vast majority of the estimated 52,000 gain for core working-age immigrants.

Employment rate for immigrants still well below that of the Canadian born

Despite posting gains, the employment rate for core working-age immigrants was still well below that of their Canadian-born counterparts, and the gap between the two widened.

As the population of working-age Canadians increases, there is an expectation that employment should rise by similar levels. The realities, however, were different for the Canadian born and for immigrants. In 2007, the employment rate rose faster for the Canadian born, as their employment growth greatly outpaced their population growth, while immigrant employment increases did not match their population gains. The end result was that the employment rate gap between immigrants and the Canadian born widened from 5.4 percentage points in 2006 to 5.9 percentage points in 2007.

Immigrants aged 25 to 54 still had a much higher unemployment rate in 2007 than the Canadian born in this age group. They also had a much lower employment rate.

The unemployment rate among core working-age immigrants edged up from 6.5% to 6.6%, which was higher than the rate of 4.6% among the Canadian born.

Almost all of the employment growth for immigrants in 2007 occurred among established immigrants, namely those who had been in Canada for more than 10 years.

Gains for very recent immigrants, those in the country for five years or less, were relatively small. Despite a dip in the unemployment rate of these very recent immigrants, the rate remained more than double that of the Canadian born.

The provinces: Most employment growth among immigrants in Quebec

Although employment increased substantially for immigrants living in Quebec, unemployment among them was still high in the province.

Over half (+28,000) of the growth in employment for Canadian immigrants in 2007 took place in Quebec. Their unemployment rate also fell from 12.0% to 10.2%. In contrast, the unemployment rate for the Canadian born in Quebec was 5.6%.

In Quebec, gains among immigrants accounted for three-quarters of the province's total annual employment growth. Quebec was the only province where the majority of employment growth came from their core working-age immigrant population in 2007.

More than three-quarters of employment growth for immigrants in Quebec in 2007 occurred among established immigrants, who saw their employment increase by an estimated 22,000, all in full-time work. As a result, the employment rate for established immigrants rose from 76.8% to 78.7%. Virtually all of this growth was for established immigrant men and women born in Asia.

Elsewhere, immigrants in Alberta benefited from the strong labour market in the oil-rich province. Their employment growth in 2007 was the second highest among the provinces at 8.4% (+18,000), with almost all the gains in full-time jobs.

In Ontario, however, the entire core working-age population experienced its slowest overall employment growth so far this decade. In 2007, Ontario immigrants experienced only modest gains in employment (+0.3%).

Strong gains in transportation and accommodation and food services industries

As was the case for the Canadian born, most employment growth for immigrants aged 25 to 54 was in the service sector, although the growth occurred in different industries.

Immigrants made notable gains in transportation (+19,000) and accommodation and food services (+15,000). For the Canadian born, the largest gains were in public administration, professional, scientific and technical services, as well as finance, insurance, real estate and leasing.

In the goods sector, Canadian-born workers saw construction employment expand and manufacturing employment shrink. Immigrants recorded a modest decline in construction and a small gain in manufacturing.

University-educated immigrants of core working age had the largest gains in immigrant employment, with an estimated gain of 62,000 (+7.0%), all in full-time work.

In contrast, the vast majority of employment growth for the Canadian born was among those with a postsecondary certificate or diploma.

Among the various age groups, older immigrants aged 55 and over posted very strong gains. Their employment increased 9.3%, overshadowing the pace of 6.5% for Canadian-born older workers. Among young immigrants aged 15 to 24, employment rose 2.0%, virtually the same rate as for Canadian-born youth.

Employment growth strong for immigrants born in Asia and the Middle East

Virtually all the population growth among the immigrant core-working age population in 2007 was attributable to individuals born in Asia (including the Middle East). Accordingly, most of the employment gains were for these people as well.

Employment grew by an estimated 53,000 (+4.9%) for Asian-born immigrants aged 25 to 54, overwhelmingly in full-time positions.

Among this Asian-born population, unemployment and employment rates of those born in the Philippines were particularly robust. Overall employment for Filipinos grew by 8.3%, virtually all in full time. Their overall employment rate increased to 88.9%, higher than the rates for both the Canadian born and immigrants of other source countries.

Overall, European-born immigrants are, second to Asians, the largest group of immigrants to Canada. Employment growth for core working-age European-born immigrants was relatively flat between 2006 and 2007 (+0.5%).

The labour market improved slightly for core working-age African-born immigrants. In 2007, modest employment gains pushed their employment rate to 72.3% from 70.3%, while their unemployment rate tumbled from 12.3% to 9.0%.

Despite these improvements, their employment rate was still lower, and their unemployment rate still higher, than the Canadian born and immigrants born in other regions.

Definitions, data sources and methods: survey number 3701.

A more detailed summary, "The Canadian Immigrant Labour Market in 2007", as part of The Immigrant Labour Force Analysis Series (71-606-XWE2008003, free), is now available online. From the Publications module of our website, under Free Internet publications, choose Labour.

For general information or to order data, contact Client Services (toll-free 1-866-873-8788; 613-951-4090; labour@statcan.ca). To enquire about the concepts, methods or data quality of this release, contact Jason Gilmore (613-951-7118; jason.gilmore@statcan.ca), Labour Statistics Division.