Future of work
A curated resource of recent research on trends shaping Canada's labour market.
Newcomers face significant barriers to labour market integration in Canada, which can result in earnings gaps when compared to their Canadian-born counterparts. Recent immigrants were more likely than Canadian-born workers to be unemployed and recent immigrant women were more likely to be out of the labour force altogether. Furthermore, studies have shown that the earnings of immigrants have been greatly and negatively impacted in previous recessions. Conversely, during COVID-19, earning disparities experienced by recent immigrants were not as substantial. Surprisingly, recent immigrant men experienced a slight earnings boost, whereas recent immigrant women did not.
The researchers caution these findings, given that one of the main data sources used was the Labour Force Survey, which has some important limitations. Nevertheless, the researchers note that as the federal government continues to increase immigration targets for specific occupations and skillsets, newcomers still face biases that discount their professional experiences in the labour market. Consequently, more work needs to be done to address these biases and ensure better integration and recognition of internationally trained professionals in Canada.