Newcomers' first jobs are critical: Study
Less than 25% work in own professions
By Nicholas Keung
Toronto Star Staff Reporter
Flipping burgers can be hazardous to the future employment of a foreign-trained immigrant, according to a new provincial study.
``Their first jobs actually impact on their current jobs and hinder them from moving on to jobs where they can use their skills,'' Michelle Goldberg told the audience at the fourth Metropolis Conference in Toronto yesterday.
Goldberg is a research analyst with the Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities.
She authored the report: The Facts Are In! Newcomers' Experiences In Accessing Regulated Professions In Ontario.
The two-year study, which will be published next month, was based on interviews with 643 immigrants with professional credentials who came to Ontario after January, 1994.
Sixty per cent of foreign-trained immigrants who took jobs unrelated to their training when they first came to Canada were stuck in the same jobs three years later, Goldberg found.
She also found that immigrant professionals have higher unemployment rates (18.2 per cent) than the Ontario average of 5.4 per cent.
For those who are employed, less than one quarter work in their exact field and 46.8 per cent are doing something irrelevant to their field.
And Goldberg said more than half of the latter ``are working in another job just to make ends meet, delivering pizza or driving cab.''
The three-day Metropolis Conference, which wraps up today, was organized by the Joint Centre of Excellence for Research on Immigration and Settlement, a partnership of academics, community groups and governmental organizations in Canada.
The vast majority - 97 per cent - of the 100,000 immigrants Ontario receives each year are university- or college-educated.
But education doesn't seem to be the problem for employers: lack of Canadian experience was cited as the most common barrier to employment (26 per cent), followed by the lack of language skills at 15.3 per cent.
Less than one-third of all respondents reported receiving information on professional licensing or Canada's job market before their arrival.
But for those who had the information, 31 per cent managed to get into the exact professions they had been in previously, the study found.
``The two conclusions we can draw from the report is: we've not been selecting the right people or we're not fulfilling the Canadian dream of these people,'' said Ratna Omidvar, executive director of a refugee and immigration program at the Maytree foundation.
She said the report underlines the need to provide immigrant professionals with up-to-date information on licensure and labour markets before they arrive.
Dougall Aucoin, director of Citizenship and Immigration Canada, admitted the current professional immigrant selection model may give ``a false hope'' to foreign-trained individuals.
But he added: ``We can't shower them with information . . . (these immigrants) must seek information they need before they arrive here. They are making some major decision affecting their whole life.''
来源：
CanadianImmigrant.com
Less than 25% work in own professions
By Nicholas Keung
Toronto Star Staff Reporter
Flipping burgers can be hazardous to the future employment of a foreign-trained immigrant, according to a new provincial study.
``Their first jobs actually impact on their current jobs and hinder them from moving on to jobs where they can use their skills,'' Michelle Goldberg told the audience at the fourth Metropolis Conference in Toronto yesterday.
Goldberg is a research analyst with the Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities.
She authored the report: The Facts Are In! Newcomers' Experiences In Accessing Regulated Professions In Ontario.
The two-year study, which will be published next month, was based on interviews with 643 immigrants with professional credentials who came to Ontario after January, 1994.
Sixty per cent of foreign-trained immigrants who took jobs unrelated to their training when they first came to Canada were stuck in the same jobs three years later, Goldberg found.
She also found that immigrant professionals have higher unemployment rates (18.2 per cent) than the Ontario average of 5.4 per cent.
For those who are employed, less than one quarter work in their exact field and 46.8 per cent are doing something irrelevant to their field.
And Goldberg said more than half of the latter ``are working in another job just to make ends meet, delivering pizza or driving cab.''
The three-day Metropolis Conference, which wraps up today, was organized by the Joint Centre of Excellence for Research on Immigration and Settlement, a partnership of academics, community groups and governmental organizations in Canada.
The vast majority - 97 per cent - of the 100,000 immigrants Ontario receives each year are university- or college-educated.
But education doesn't seem to be the problem for employers: lack of Canadian experience was cited as the most common barrier to employment (26 per cent), followed by the lack of language skills at 15.3 per cent.
Less than one-third of all respondents reported receiving information on professional licensing or Canada's job market before their arrival.
But for those who had the information, 31 per cent managed to get into the exact professions they had been in previously, the study found.
``The two conclusions we can draw from the report is: we've not been selecting the right people or we're not fulfilling the Canadian dream of these people,'' said Ratna Omidvar, executive director of a refugee and immigration program at the Maytree foundation.
She said the report underlines the need to provide immigrant professionals with up-to-date information on licensure and labour markets before they arrive.
Dougall Aucoin, director of Citizenship and Immigration Canada, admitted the current professional immigrant selection model may give ``a false hope'' to foreign-trained individuals.
But he added: ``We can't shower them with information . . . (these immigrants) must seek information they need before they arrive here. They are making some major decision affecting their whole life.''
来源：
CanadianImmigrant.com
