Question Of How To Fairly Aid Immigrant Unemployment Problems

dumpthemonarchy

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Great article how Ontario politicians want to do as much as they can to assist immigrants in finding work, but feel stymied as their unemployment raite is much higher than Canadian born. Maybe being a little proactive and cutting immigration might quietly solve the problem, but that's not politically palatable in these gloriously multicutlural times. I mean, who sees boom times ahead? And we're already spending $1 billion a year on settlement costs.

Reminds of meeting a young educated immigrant who was working as a temp a few years back who said he couldn't wait to leave Canada to go to the USA to work because Canada had so few big corporations that could hire him. Canada has mostly small businesses who don't need immigrants like the govt thinks they do.



Ontario Liberal plan to aid immigrant employment raises question of fairness

karim bardeesy

From Monday's Globe and Mail

Published Monday, Sep. 19, 2011 4:00AM EDT

Last updated Monday, Sep. 19, 2011 6:18AM EDT




Ontario Liberal plan to aid immigrant employment raises question of fairness - The Globe and Mail


Fairness. It has become a buzzword in immigrant communities and on the Ontario election trail, prompted by a contentious election pledge by the Liberals to introduce a training tax credit for employers who hire immigrant professionals.
That debate centres on what assistance the province should give to new Canadians and immigrant communities, vote-rich groups that every party in this election are trying to bring into the fold.

Most politicians across party lines share the same baseline assumptions of what services are essential for new Canadians – immediate help upon arrival in the country, access to language instruction and more recognition of international credentials and experience.

Beyond that, however, what exactly is fair? How much special attention should immigrant communities receive?
“People want to accelerate their licences, to get recognized as a professional,” said Wafik Sunbaty, Progressive Conservative candidate for Mississauga-Streetsville and an engineer who came to Canada from Egypt in 1994. “But I’m not waiting for a tax credit. Give me the job!”

“In some ways, people who are new to Canada need extra services to help integrate,” said Jagmeet Singh, NDP candidate in Bramalea-Gore-Malton. But over all, “in terms of policies, new Canadians feel that their concerns are similar to everyone else’s concerns.”

But statistics show that immigrants are still underperforming economically. Less than one in four internationally educated immigrants work in the field for which they trained. Too many are working in service jobs, the only ones they can get. It’s worse for recent immigrants, who now have an unemployment rate more than double that of people born in Canada, according to a July, 2011, York University study. In economic terms, their work experience overseas counts for nothing – it results in no salary benefit once they arrive in Canada.

Anton Norbert of Brampton, Ont., immigrated from Sri Lanka 13 years ago, and got jobs in telecommunications despite his passion for the airline industry, in which he’d worked in a senior capacity in Sri Lanka and Europe. The 51-year-old married father of three has been out of work since February and wouldn’t qualify for the Liberals’ tax credit.

“I feel like I’ve been pigeonholed in telecommunications, despite all my other soft skills,” Mr. Norbert said.
Cases like Mr. Norbert’s are hard to solve because of built-in problems in the labour market, and because governments find it difficult to bend that market to place immigrants in their desired jobs.

Many cite the inherent and natural risk-aversion of small business, the would-be employers of many immigrants.
“They don’t have HR people,” says Ratna Omidvar of the Maytree Foundation. Nor do they have the time or inclination to examine an immigrant’s international credentials – especially with those with Canadian experience waiting in the wings.

Connecting immigrants to employed mentors is a proven benefit, says Ryerson University’s John Shields. Mentors provide a network for future employment and help new Canadians get the soft skills they need to succeed in an unfamiliar workplace.
“The problem is that mentorship programs are small-scale and labour-intensive,” Prof. Shields said. And if a government tried to create a wide-ranging mentorship program open only to new Canadians, the cries of unfairness would likely rise again.
Guessing what the labour market will require, and picking immigrants accordingly, is tough. In the early 2000s, after the tech crash, this led to a glut of internationally trained, unemployed information technology workers.

For many in the immigrant community, breaking the implied promise of immigration – that you get to work in your chosen field – is a manifestation of unfairness.

Governments could move to abolish Canadian experience requirements in some professions altogether. “We may get to that place, in 20 years,” said Ms. Omidvar – but likely not without battling well-resourced professional colleges, who would say that fairness does not imply absolute equality.

Governments can also try to help immigrants by pushing for wider policy change, inviting battles with other levels of government in the process.

Ontario has pushed for changes to the Employment Insurance regime that would help those in immigrant-heavy suburban and urban areas qualify for EI more easily. The Federation of Canadian Municipalities this week said immigrants need more than just settlement services: They need better housing and public transit, too.

What’s fair? The skirmish over the immigrant training tax credit shows two different philosophies at play – one that focuses on additional help for those who need it most, and one that takes a “rising tide lifts all boats” approach. The political and policy debate shows that those philosophies are still very much in dispute.
 

IdRatherBeSkiing

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Without reading anything more than "Ontario Liberal Plan" and knowing there is a pending election, I will put 2+2 together that the Liberals are pandering to the increasingly important ethnic vote. If they are not working or getting money, they may be unhappy and might not vote Liberal.
 

YoungJoonKim

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this is an interesting article. I can attest to this kind of story. My mother was a nurse for 15+ years back in South Korea, since her college years. Eventually she worked as a head nurse in a private clinic and had a job there for 2-3 years, right off the street because of her experience as a nurse. Since immigrating, she didn't pursue her skill set but instead work as a store owner.
I feel awful every time I think about this because she would have retired by 60+ if she worked as a nurse in Canada...and knowing her skill set, it's such a waste...
 

CDNBear

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this is an interesting article. I can attest to this kind of story. My mother was a nurse for 15+ years back in South Korea, since her college years. Eventually she worked as a head nurse in a private clinic and had a job there for 2-3 years, right off the street because of her experience as a nurse. Since immigrating, she didn't pursue her skill set but instead work as a store owner.
I feel awful every time I think about this because she would have retired by 60+ if she worked as a nurse in Canada...and knowing her skill set, it's such a waste...
Was her education recognized in Canada?

We have had shortages of nurses on and off over the years.

I find it hard to believe she couldn't find work as a nurse in Canada or the US.
 

Angstrom

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As a province where looking at this all wrong I think.

If there's 100 000 open jobs and you have 300 000 un-employed citizen.
Thats just simple math.

Your not going to change a thing no matter how much money you throw at it.
As long as we buy most of our goods cheep and from china, nothing will change.
It will only get worst.
 

Goober

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As a province where looking at this all wrong I think.

If there's 100 000 open jobs and you have 300 000 un-employed citizen.
Thats just simple math.

Your not going to change a thing no matter how much money you throw at it.
As long as we buy most of our goods cheep and from china, nothing will change.
It will only get worst.

Oh yes I forgot to mention this. My IQ is higher than yours. Guess that sucks eh.
 

taxslave

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Politicians can make all the promises they want but as long as there are old boys clubs controlling the membership into professional associations foreign educated professionals will find it difficult to work in Canada. Those with no job skills and a poor grasp of English will find it even harder.
 

SLM

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How many Canadian university grads do we have that have found gainful post graduate employment at McDonalds or Wendys? I question whether this is so much an immigrant unemployment problem as just simply an unemployment problem. I've been hearing talk for years about people being over qualified for the positions that they do hold. Don't know how absolutely true it all really is, but it's definitely something I've been hearing about.

Language is of course a huge barrier, as it should be actually. Effective communication is essential irrespective of the type of work you are doing. Mandatory ESL, or FSL in Quebec, language training should be a reality for all individuals who emmigrate to Canada. I have absolutely no issue what so ever with government sponsored language training.

As far as accreditation of skill sets and training, while I would say we need to maintain our standards we also need to make sure those standards are reasonable to attain. I'm specifically thinking of one individual that I saw on a news piece once, a young woman from Great Britain who held a pharmacists licence I believe that said she couldn't work as a pharmacist here without tens of thousands of dollars worth of continued training. Now I am not disputing the merits of her individual situation but it does make me wonder if the standards of one of the founding nations of our own nation is not up to our standards, what hope can someone from Sri Lanka, or where ever, have?
 

dumpthemonarchy

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Well learning the language is usually a great start and at one point wasn't it a requirement.

We think the whole world is learning English, and it is, to a point. English around the world has its own forms. A good, or perhaps a bad example is Hinglish, a mixture of English and Hindi spoken in India. Most of the words are English of course but Hindi words are sprinkled in but everyone watching understands it while watching TV there. It doesn't work so well in Canada.because it is a localized form of English. Thus many employers can tell the English they bring over is not that great and may take a few years of living in Canada to get up to speed. And this is India, a country that was part of the British empire and spends a great deal of money to teach what it believes is proper English.

In the same way French language films from Quebec and Africa get subtitles when they are shown in France. The language is not up to standard.
 

Retired_Can_Soldier

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We think the whole world is learning English, and it is, to a point. English around the world has its own forms. A good, or perhaps a bad example is Hinglish, a mixture of English and Hindi spoken in India. Most of the words are English of course but Hindi words are sprinkled in but everyone watching understands it while watching TV there. It doesn't work so well in Canada.because it is a localized form of English. Thus many employers can tell the English they bring over is not that great and may take a few years of living in Canada to get up to speed. And this is India, a country that was part of the British empire and spends a great deal of money to teach what it believes is proper English.

In the same way French language films from Quebec and Africa get subtitles when they are shown in France. The language is not up to standard.

Funny, I was in renewing my license and there was a fellow there from China or Hong Kong (not 100% sure which) and he had a translator to help him with the written exam.

I'd say knowing the language is kind of important and a lot of folks who come here don't know the basics because they are pigeon holed by the Utopian Pierre Trudeau dream of multiculturalism. Instead of accommodating ignorance we should be encouraging them to come equipped.
 

dumpthemonarchy

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Funny, I was in renewing my license and there was a fellow there from China or Hong Kong (not 100% sure which) and he had a translator to help him with the written exam.

I'd say knowing the language is kind of important and a lot of folks who come here don't know the basics because they are pigeon holed by the Utopian Pierre Trudeau dream of multiculturalism. Instead of accommodating ignorance we should be encouraging them to come equipped.

We have this illusion that people all over the world are just like us, and if they speak English, in Canada, we have another Canadian. Yay! We're openminded to the point of naivity. But low standards can be good at times, especially if workers are needed, like they were during the boom. Now even business is getting tripped up by the new high-skill English requirements. Which we know are best learned in Canada.

I would say it's much easier to be a Canadian than English Canadian, or French Canadian. That's the good Trudeau part, call it good multiculturalism. We're defintiely less politically and ethnically English, because that's what Canadians now want. Like me.