Understanding job status decline among newcomers to Canada.

Wilkinson, Lori ; Bhattacharyya, Pallabi ; Bucklaschuk, Jill 等

Introduction

In the Canadian labour market, recognition of foreign-acquired skills, work experience, and education has long been a problem experienced by immigrants. The problem has become more entrenched in recent years as mounting evidence shows that recently arrived immigrant cohorts, regardless of their place of origin, have not had the same success in the Canadian labour market when compared to earlier immigrant cohorts. From a personal perspective, such challenges negatively influence immigrants' job satisfaction, which has implications for their social integration, well-being, and satisfaction with life in Canada. From a labour market perspective, the failure to recognize the skills, education, and work experience immigrants bring with them to Canada not only makes immigration to Canada potentially less attractive for professionals and highly skilled workers, but by extension it may reduce Canada's economic global competitiveness as it contributes to the underutilization and a waste of valuable talent.

This paper examines issues around credential recognition and the mismatches and underutilization of skills of newcomers by quantifying the degree to which they experience job status decline upon arrival to Canada. Our sample consists of newly arrived immigrants, defined as those arriving in Canada five years ago or less. Focusing on those who have newly arrived provides us with an opportunity to examine short-term and recent labour market experiences. This paper begins with a brief examination of the wealth of Canadian research on foreign credential recognition and economic conditions of newcomers. It is followed by a description of the methodology and findings, concluding with policy recommendations that address the issue of recently arrived immigrants' job status decline.

Literature Review

What do we know about the fit between immigrants' skills and the work they find in Canada? The answer to this question depends greatly on the group of interest. We know a significant amount about the long-term labour market outcomes of those arriving through the economic class and as students (Aydemir 2011; Hiebert 2009; Sweetman and Warman 2014). It is well-known that most immigrants who enter the country through the provincial nominee class are most commonly found among the employed immigrants (77.8 percent) while family class immigrants form the highest percentage of unemployed immigrants. Males are significantly more likely than females to be employed. Females (10.3 percent) are slightly more likely to be unemployed and looking for work than males (8.3 percent). The proportion of female immigrants who are not looking for a job (including students and retirees) is double the percentage of males.

We know less about the short-term labour market experiences of newcomers during their first years in Canada. One of the most common findings regarding the length of time in Canada is that as time increases, unemployment rates decrease. Immediately after arrival, approximately 18.9 percent of immigrants are unemployed. Over the course of the first five years in Canada, unemployment rates drop. Employment rates increase dramatically between years one (57.8 percent) and two (73.6 percent), leveling off at 74.4 percent five years after arrival.

Related to the effects of time in Canada on economic outcomes, researchers have begun to more thoroughly consider and identify various stages of economic integration since the labour market conditions of newcomers change over time and as they begin to integrate into other areas of Canadian society. The short-term stage is defined as the period between arrival and less than three years in Canada, the medium-term stage is roughly three to ten years, and the long-term stage is the period after ten yearsin the country. Each of these stages comes with increasingly better economic outcomes for immigrants. For example, the average employment income of the most recently arrived immigrants (in the short-term stage) is $11,990 whereas those in the medium-term stage earn $16,194 (Wilkinson, Peter and Chaturvedi 2006).

The struggle with successful economic outcomes is not necessarily a product of skills or education since, on average, immigrants are a highly educated group. Nearly one-third (32 percent) have a university degree prior to their arrival, which corresponds to a 51 percent higher rate of university degree attainment than the Canadian-born population (Statistics Canada 2009). As Boyd and Schellenberg (2007) point out, economic skilled immigrants are valued for and admitted based on their high levels of education and corresponding potential to economically contribute to the labour market. However, once in Canada, their education may be devalued or not recognized by potential or current employers. While immigrants may be better educated than the Canadian-born, they are also often burdened with a labour market disadvantage since they often experience poor returns on their high levels of education (Girard and Smith 2009).

Canadian immigration admission criteria, which are based on a points system that highly values various facets of human capital, favours the entry of highly educated immigrants over the less educated. The majority of newcomers to Canada arrive through the economic class. In fact, in 2014, the federal government set higher targets for economic class entrants so that economic immigrants (and their dependents) accounted for 63 percent of all arrivals. The high proportion of economic class immigrants emerges from federal immigration policies' focus on building a skilled workforce that will positively contribute to the economy and enhance global competitiveness (Citizenship and Immigration Canada 2014; Sweetman and Warman 2012).

Furthermore, research suggests that highly skilled and educated immigrants are the most likely to successfully integrate economically, given that a crucial element of integration is to participate in the labour market. As Sweetman and Warman (2012) note, there are remarkable differences in the labour market outcomes of various immigrant categories, with the economic class having the most positive long-term outcomes. Nearly four years post-arrival, economic class immigrants nearly catch up to national average earnings, whereas other classes took between 13 to 15 years to reach such levels. Despite this relative catch up to national averages with time, recent cohorts of immigrants may never fully catch up to their Canadian-born counterparts in terms of economic outcomes (Picot and Sweetman 2012).

One of the common explanations for immigrants' struggles in the labour market includes a lack of recognition of foreign credentials, which contributes to deskilling, underemployment, and a failure to acknowledge immigrants' valuable human capital (Guo and Andersson 2005). Even though immigrants' struggles with foreign credential recognition are the topic of much research and debate, there is little consensus on the implications and causes of this seemingly persistent systemic challenge. In fact, others have found that recent cohorts of immigrants, despite their increasingly high levels of human capital, are experiencing decreasing earnings relative to their Canadian-born counterparts (Li and Li 2013; Reitz 2001). This decline is by no means a recent phenomenon. Reitz (2001) and others have found a decline in employment rates and income among immigrants over a 25-year period. In explaining the decline nearly fifteen years ago, Reitz suggests it occurred primarily because education levels of Canadian-born workers increased in relation to immigrants and that newcomers increasingly experience credential recognition challenges. In the same vein, Picot and Sweetman (2012) suggest that despite significant emphasis on educated and skilled immigrants in immigration policy in the past decade or so, the skill-sets and education brought by more recent immigrant arrivals are relatively inferior to those of immigrants arriving in the 1970s, 1980s, and early 1990s. Their schooling is inferior and, as a result, they do not experience the same positive labour market returns as their predecessors. Dean (2010) compares the differences between the Canadian-born and immigrants, finding there are nearly no returns to foreign work experience in the Canadian labour market. Buzdugan and Halli (2009) reach similar conclusions and explain that achieving Canadian work experience is more important in positively affecting earnings than education.

Conversely, other researchers argue that although schooling may be a factor, when education variables are controlled, race differences explain more of the variation in income attainment than the quality of education (Buzdugan and Halli 2009; Dean 2010). Racialized populations face differential attitudes within the labour market, which includes both increasing levels of unemployment and lower rates of earnings based on their skin color (Li and Li 2013; Lightman and Good-Gingrich 2012). Furthermore, racialized populations are mainly hired for jobs that are characterized as impermanent, poorly paid, insecure, and with no benefits that contribute to the racialization of poverty and negatively influence integration and well-being (Block and Galabuzi 2011).

There is a consensus that foreign credential recognition is a serious and widespread problem among immigrants in Canada. Who are the most adversely affected by the failure to recognize foreign credentials? Zikic and colleagues (2010) have conducted one of the few studies that examine the influence of immigrant entrance class on foreign credential recognition. They find that refugees are the most likely to experience difficulties with credential assessment and recognition since many refugees lack the paperwork necessary to prove their education and work experience. Results also show that refugees are most likely to cite cost as a barrier to having their credentials recognized. Men are more likely to have their credentials assessed than females, with female refugees faring the worst of all groups.

How can we begin to understand the nature of these inequalities and experiences of immigrants in Canada's labour market? Migration scholars have suggested that there exists a dual, or segmented, labour market in advanced capitalist economies and it is in fact, the segmentation of the labour market that supports such economies (Colic-Peisker and Tilbury 2006; Hudson 2007; Massey et al. 1993; Wilson and Portes 1980). There is purported to exist at least two distinguishable segments of the labour market--the primary sector and the secondary sector. The primary labour market sector is characterized by jobs with high wages, security, chances of promotions, and good working conditions, while the secondary sector is characterized by low wages, insecurity, and limited chances of advancement. Such differences distinguish 'good' jobs from 'bad' jobs. Advanced capitalist economies such as Canada's require people who are willing to work in the secondary segments of the labour market, with its low wages, insecurity, and poor working conditions since native-born populations often eschew the secondary sector for the pay, prestige and stability of primary sector jobs. Typically, socially unequal populations such as women, youth, and racialized minorities have populated the secondary sector and, more recently, immigrant populations have become a significant source of labour for these less prestigious jobs. Therefore, immigrants, regardless of their human capital, fill the demand for low wage labour that is a structural part of advanced capitalist economies without requiring significant changes to labour market structures (Massey et al. 1993).

Regardless of which sub-group is most adversely affected, the challenges of credential recognition and labour market integration are not confined to any particular sub-group. The source of such challenges can in part be attributed to Canada's immigrant selection policies, which purposely focus on maintaining an economic advantage in the global market by actively pursuing and admitting highly skilled immigrants. As the country does not bear the burden of educating these highly skilled workers, such policies result in the cheapest way of adding highly skilled workers to the labour market (Buzdugan and Hulli 2009). However, the issue of foreign credential recognition and economic integration is far more complicated and is often affected by employers' ignorance or prejudiced attitudes toward experiences, skills and education obtained in other countries. There exists a mismatch between federal immigration policies around selection for education, training, and skills and the practices of employers and some accrediting bodies in the Canadian labour market. It has come to a point where newcomers cannot expect to come to Canada and quickly obtain work in their field.

Methodology

In 2013, Citizenship and Immigration Canada commissioned a survey on the settlement experiences of newcomers to Canada. They provided a research team with a simple random sample of newcomers who settled in the four western provinces over a five-year period starting in 2008 and ending in 2012. A telephone survey, conducted by the Social Science Research Laboratory at the University of Saskatchewan and the Population Research Laboratory at the University of Alberta was conducted in March 2013 and resulted in 3,006 responses. Respondents were asked a series of questions related to their settlement experiences, pre-arrival work and education histories, along with their current educational and economic experiences in Canada. Respondents took an average of 22 minutes to complete the survey. Despite ten attempts at each contact, the response rate was only 38 percent, but this is comparable to other recent telephone surveys. One of the problems with locating newly arrived immigrants is that they frequently migrate within the country so they are difficult to track. Readers interested in more methodological detail may consult the final report (Esses et al. 2013).

Findings

Although the barriers to foreign credential recognition and the issues related to lack of Canadian experience is well-known, visible minority immigrants are significantly more likely to experience difficulty finding work because of a lack of Canadian experience. In Western Canada, those most likely to experience this phenomenon live in Alberta (59.9 percent) and Saskatchewan (52.1 percent). Still, one-third of those living in British Columbia and Manitoba felt the same way. Among white immigrants, 44.2 percent of those living in Alberta, 35 percent of those living in Saskatchewan, and 30.1 percent of those living in British Columbia felt that lack of Canadian experience made it difficult for them to find work in their province of residence. Only 15.7 percent of white immigrants in Manitoba felt this way (Western Canadian Settlement Survey 2013).

One way of examining the extent to which foreign credentials are recognized in Canada is to compare pre-arrival job status with post-arrival job status. By job status, we mean the amount of education and training necessary to work in a particular field. Some jobs require extensive training and high levels of education, others require on-the-job training and other jobs require no training. Consider the differences in the type of training needed to become a physician versus the training needed to become an auto mechanic versus the training needed to work as a cashier. Each job requires substantially different levels of schooling, apprenticeship and training. The measurements we used to create the following tables use the categories of the National Occupational Classification (NOC). Jobs classified as O or A typically require university-level training and significant experience. Managers, accountants, lawyers, and engineers are some examples of jobs in NOC A category. NOC B jobs typically require vocational training apprenticeship or a college diploma. Examples of jobs in this category are medical technologists, dental hygienists, surveyors, and drafters. NOC C jobs typically require completion of secondary school and/or on-the-job training. Occupations in this category would include day and home care providers, travel and tourism coordination, and transit drivers. Jobs in NOC D occupations do not require any formal schooling and would include those working as caretakers, food service helpers and agricultural help. Our goal was to classify all pre-arrival jobs using NOC codes and to compare pre-arrival work to post-arrival work with the objective of answering the question: does job status increase or decrease after arrival?

Readers are cautioned that this methodology, although sound, cannot capture smaller downward or upward shifts in job status within the same NOC code. For example, a person who trained and worked as a physician prior to coming to Canada who now works as a pharmacist (after retraining), would register in our calculations as having no change in status since pharmacists are coded as NOC A jobs, the same category as physicians. The reality is that this person has experienced a decline in job status as the work is likely for less pay and would score lower on the Blishen-Carroll-Moore, Porter-Pineo and other occupational prestige scales (see Boyd 2001 for details on these scales). What our method does show is that movement between major codes A, B, C, and D are indicative of significant job status decline. Thus, the physician moving from pre-arrival NOC A to a post-arrival job in a NOC C category is experiencing a significant decline in job status, from one job requiring extensive education and training to one that requires only a high school diploma. If anything, our method could be criticized for under-estimating the number of people experiencing job status increases and decreases post arrival. (2) This was, however, the most precise way to handle the data we had available to us. 'Pre-arrival job' is classified as the last job worked in the country of origin while 'post-arrival job' is classified as the current or last job worked in Canada.

Table 1 shows the pre- and post-arrival job status categories using NOC codes for the immigrants participating in the Western Canadian Settlement Survey. It also includes information on working-aged Canadians and their distribution along the NOC categories for comparison purposes. It is clear that a number of immigrants experience significant shifts in job status. Those arriving with NOC A and NOC B level jobs are less likely to be working in these categories after their arrival to Canada. The decline is particularly significant among those arriving with NOC A level jobs. At arrival, 47 percent of all immigrants have work experience in a NOC A equivalent job overseas but after arrival, only 28 percent remain in the NOC A job category in Canada. Among those with pre-arrival jobs in NOC B categories, the slippage is small, at 3 percent. Not surprisingly, NOC C and D categories see significant growth after arrival. Only 21 percent of immigrants enter with pre-arrival jobs in NOC C, but at post-arrival, now 31 percent work in that category. Similarly, few immigrants enter having worked in NOC D category jobs (2 percent) after arrival--that number is 14 percent.

It is useful to compare the job status of newcomers with Canadian-born workers. The last column in this table shows the job status distribution of the Canadian population as measured by the Annual Labour Force Survey. Just over one-third (37 percent) of Canadians work in NOC A level jobs and another one-quarter (26 percent) work in NOC B level jobs. The remaining third of workers are in NOC C (28 percent) or NOC D (9 percent) jobs.

Given that labour market conditions differ by province (at the time of the survey Alberta and Saskatchewan had the lowest unemployment rates and fastest growing economies), we wondered if there were provincial differences in the job status decline of immigrants by province and if newcomers to Alberta and Saskatchewan were less likely to experience a job status decline. Our results (not shown) indicate that province of residence does not matter. Immigrants in the more economically 'healthy' provinces of Saskatchewan and Alberta were just as likely as those living in British Columbia and Manitoba to experience a mismatch between their pre- and post-arrival jobs in Canada. Fifty-one percent of all immigrants experienced job status decline, 24 percent experienced no change and another 25 percent experienced a job status increase. We also investigated sex, place of birth, and racialized minority status differences because the research overwhelmingly identifies significantly different labour market outcomes among these groups. Our sample was consistent with this research.

The next series of tables examines the effect of immigrant entrance class on occupational mobility by province. The results are illuminating. Table 2 shows the post-arrival occupational mobility experiences among refugees to the four western provinces. A majority of refugees experience occupational declines in their new jobs in Canada. In Saskatchewan, three out of four refugees experience a decline in job status, followed by 67 percent of those living in British Columbia and 66 percent of those living in Manitoba. Refugees living in Alberta have the smallest job declines, but one in two still works in jobs for which they are over-qualified. There are some interesting success stories among this data. One-third of refugees living in Manitoba and 28 percent in Alberta are working in jobs at a higher skill level than the jobs they had held previous to their arrival in Canada. Another 21 percent of those living in British Columbia are working at roughly equivalent-skill level work. The results of significant job status decline are not a surprise for those who work closely with newly arrived refugees, but the magnitude of the problem is very troublesome.

The next table shows the results of occupational mobility for provincial nominees (PNs). This is an interesting table from a policy standpoint because the belief among government and policy analysts is that this group ought to have some of the best job-skills match of all immigrants because this group is recruited mainly to fill specific labour market shortages in individual provinces. The idea of the provincial nominee program is to fill jobs for which qualified Canadians cannot be found. These labour market shortages could not be met by newcomers who were entering the federal skilled worker program, hence the introduction of the PNP. The results in Table 3 do, to some extent, reflect job-skills match, at least better for this category than among other entrance classes. There is, however, still significant job-skills mismatch. Over half of all PNs in Manitoba (55 percent) are currently working in jobs that are lower than their skills. In Alberta, that figure is 47 percent and Saskatchewan is not far behind at 45 percent. PNs in British Columbia fare slightly better. Only 22 percent of PNs in that province are currently working in jobs that are not matching their prior skill level. Among PNs in British Columbia, nearly half (49 percent) are working at a job similar to the one they had worked prior to their arrival in Canada. And, one in four PNs, regardless of province of residence, work in jobs that are at a higher skill level than the ones they had left in their previous country.

The next table shows the results of occupational mobility for skilled worker and professional worker entrance categories. Like the PNs, skilled and professional workers experienced job status decline more often than job status increase. The worst status declines are seen among immigrants living in Manitoba where two-thirds are overqualified for their current jobs. This is followed by 55 percent of those living in Alberta, 53 percent in Saskatchewan and 46 percent in British Columbia. More immigrants in this category were able to maintain their job status, having jobs of similar educational and skill quality as the ones they had left. One-third of skilled workers in Saskatchewan, British Columbia and Alberta were working in jobs similar to those they had left in their previous country. Nearly one in four of skilled and professional workers in British Columbia were working at higher level jobs than their previous jobs.

Findings for family class immigrants appear in Table 5. Unlike the previous tables, there is no statistically significant difference in job mobility outcomes by province. Like other immigrant classes, the majority of immigrants, regardless of province, experience job status declines in Canada. Some, however, do experience job status increases in Canada, particularly those living in Alberta (27.8 percent) and British Columbia (24.3 percent). Still, others see no change in job status in Canada, particularly those in Saskatchewan (25.7 percent) and Manitoba (22.7 percent). The fact that over half of all family class immigrants do experience job status decline in Canada is worrisome and an indication that this group, in particular, might benefit from some credential recognition assistance.

Much of the existing research indicates that as time in Canada increases, job status and wages increases but that since the mid-1990s, the economic outcomes of immigrants have decreased (Aydemir and Skuterud 2004; Frenette and Morissette 2005; Picot and Sweetman 2005). In short, although incomes and job status of newly arrived immigrants are poorer, they do increase with time. However, convergence, if it does occur, happens much later. Table 6 shows some evidence of that by examining the influence of time spent in Canada and NOC classification of present job scenario. It is observed that there is a job decline among immigrants in all provinces and that the rate of job decline is essentially the same. In general, the number of immigrants with NOC D level jobs decline over time, though by three years in Canada, that decline levels off. Among immigrants having NOC C level jobs at arrival, that number declines significantly until year four. NOC B level occupations increase till the five-year mark as do the number working in NOC A level jobs. By year five, the number of immigrants working in NOC A, NOC B and NOC C level jobs is nearly equivalent with one another. If we refer to the NOC level jobs of Canadian-born workers presented on page 18, immigrants are under-represented in NOC A level jobs by about 7 percent by year five. Immigrants are only slightly over-represented in NOC B and C level jobs by year five. They remain, however, over-represented in NOC D level jobs by about 5 percent.

We also wondered whether or not there might be an advantage to having acquired an education in Canada. Many believe that if the job market does discriminate against those who are educated outside of Canada, then immigrants who were educated in Canada would have a labour market advantage over other immigrants. At least they could compete at similar levels to those born and educated in Canada. Table 7 shows the results of this analysis. Of those immigrants who acquired their highest level of education in Canada, 32.1 percent are working in NOC A level jobs and 26.7 percent are working in NOC B level jobs. Another 28.7 percent of Canadian-educated immigrants are working in NOC C level jobs and 11 percent are working in NOC D level jobs. Among immigrants without Canadian-acquired education, 25.2 percent are working in NOC A and 26.1 percent are working in NOC B level jobs. The largest number of those educated outside of Canada, however, is working in NOC C level jobs at 31.6 percent. Another 14.4 percent are working in NOC D level jobs. In short, although having acquired an education in Canada is a protective factor for some, having that schooling does not guarantee higher occupational mobility among immigrants. It would be interesting to use this measure to examine the labour market outcomes among more established immigrants.

By how much does job status decline? Table 8 shows level of decline, measured using major NOC codes for employed immigrants in the study. For instance, we wanted to know among those who entered the country with a pre-arrival job categorized as NOC A, how many work in NOC B jobs versus NOC C jobs and NOC D jobs. In this table, -4 NOC steps means that the respondent had a NOC A level job prior to their arrival but is now not working. A respondent scoring -3 NOC steps means they had a NOC A level job prior to arrival but now work at a NOC D level job. Those with positive NOC steps means their job in Canada is at a higher level than the one they worked prior to arrival. For example, a respondent who worked in a NOC C level job prior to arrival and is now working at NOC B would score +1 NOC steps.

The results of this analysis in Table 8 reveal some interesting trends. One in four immigrants did not see a change in occupational mobility after their arrival in Canada. They are working at a job of equivalent skill and education level to the one they left. As indicated earlier, due to the broad nature of NOC categories, this does not mean there has not been some job status increase or decrease, it means that the job change is not as significant as the other 75 percent. Another 22 percent of newcomers saw job status increases. Eight per cent moved up one status point, while another 8 percent moved three or four status points upward. Among those who have experienced job status declines, the picture is more grim. Fourteen percent saw a one-step status decline between their pre-arrival and post-arrival job. Another 17 percent experienced a two-step decline. Nearly one-quarter of all newcomers experienced significant job declines--from three steps down (11 percent) to four steps down (12 percent).

Discussion

The results have confirmed the long-standing research suggesting that today's immigrants are having difficulty finding jobs that adequately match their education and previous work experience. There are, however, some interesting and unique findings from these datasets, that should be highlighted. Very few studies closely examine and quantify the magnitude of job status decline. Our results suggest that over 50 percent of immigrants experience job status decline after their arrival in Canada. Although provincial economies are different, it does not seem to matter which province an immigrant chooses, the majority will experience a decline in job status after their arrival. Some experience severe declines such as those who worked in NOC A or B level jobs in their home country and now work in NOC C or D level jobs. For nearly one in four, the magnitude of job decline is severe--going from a university or technical level training to jobs requiring little or no formal education. There are some bright spots: 8 percent of newcomers make significant leaps in their job status, working at jobs in Canada that are significantly more skilled than the ones they left behind. Many of these have acquired some or all of their post-secondary education in Canada. Yet having acquired an education in Canada is not enough to insulate newcomers from poor labour market returns.

Why have the economic returns of education and skills for immigrant workers been so abysmal for the past twenty years? The alignment between education, training and work experience on one hand, and labour market integration and economic outcomes for newcomers on the other, has always been less than perfect. In recent decades, however, that alignment has been even less perfect, and the misalignment has been most acute amongst the most highly educated. There are two alternative explanations for this. The first explanation is that today's immigrants, unlike those arriving in previous decades, have inferior language skills and although highly educated, have inferior education. The second explanation is that today's labour market is more difficult to enter and some of that difficulty is due to racism embedded within the system.

What, then, are the merits and limitations of each explanation? The "immigrants bring lower language and inferior education" debate rests on the assumption that foreign-trained workers are less prepared to enter the labour market than their predecessors. They come from countries where English and French are not widely spoken and have less regulated or less trustworthy systems of higher education. It is almost impossible to test the assumption that newly arrived immigrants have education from inferior schools. There is no database that we are aware of that contains a measure of the 'quality' of post-secondary education systems. Common sense tells us that indeed there is a great variation in the quality of education even within a single country. Using the United States as an example, there are world-class prestigious institutions alongside unregulated, poorly designed educational institutions. Both operate in the same country. To equate American-attained education as 'superior' implies that inferior institutions do not exist in that country. We can look at other countries in the same way. China, the world's fastest growing market of education providers, has many world-class institutions that compete with the world's best. It also has some poor quality schools. Any research that equates Chinese-attained education with poor quality is ignoring the major achievements in research and education attained by many Chinese institutions. None of the existing research includes school rank for quality so we feel that this argument cannot be sustained, at least not without quantifying the quality of schooling differences.

Others will argue that recent immigrants cannot speak English or French as well as their predecessors. Language proficiency data for 2013 reveals that 33 percent of newcomers could not speak one of Canada's official languages at arrival. That is down from 37 percent ten years ago (CIC 2014). In 2011, 24 percent of immigrants couldn't speak one of Canada's official languages upon arrival. Looking back a bit further, in 1996,41 percent of newcomers could not speak either of Canada's official languages (CIC 1997, calculations by author) and in 1986, 42 percent of newcomers could not speak English or French (CIC 1987, calculations by author). Another possibility is the change to the labour market where more recent immigrants are more likely to be working in jobs that require French or English, such as those in the service industries. These are jobs which immigrants did not work in previously.

In summary, the idea that inferior education and/or lack of English or French language proficiency are the major factors that account for the lower labour market returns of recently arrived immigrants ought to be questioned. They may indeed contribute to slower and lower labour market returns among immigrants arriving in the 21st century, we just lack the information to test the education assumption, and the language assumption is not supported by existing data.

The second explanation involves the idea that racism is embedded within the Canadian labour market. This argument is also difficult to identify and quantify. Researchers supporting this argument suggest that after controlling for various effects such as where education was attained, length of time in Canada, sex, occupation and other factors influencing economic outcome, there remains unexplained factors that contribute to economic inequalities. Some of these inequalities can be attributed to ethnicity, country of origin or racial discrimination. For the most part, researchers find that there is some evidence to suggest that newcomers from non-traditional source countries (which should be interpreted as countries with largely non-white populations) have lower labour market outcomes and economic returns to their education and skillsets than white immigrants (Oreopoulos 2011; Oreopoulous and Dechief 2012). We can confirm Buzdugan and Halli's (2009) findings that having an education from a Canadian institution does have some economic benefits for immigrants insomuch as they are less likely to have difficulty integrating into the labour market, but our results also indicate that even among the Canadian educated, one-third are working in NOC C level jobs. This is further corroborated by the evidence provided by the newcomers themselves. Half of all newcomers who had difficulty finding work indicated that they felt it was due to lack of Canadian work experience. This figure is even higher when we compare racialized to white immigrants. There was also significant evidence that many immigrants felt the job in which they were working did not match their skill sets for a variety of reasons, including racial and ethnic discrimination. Clearly racial and ethnic discrimination cannot be discounted as significant contributing factors to the labor market integration and economic outcomes of newcomers. While we agree that discrimination and lack of Canadian experience are contributing factors in the lower levels of labour market integration that align with the pre-arrival training, skills and work experiences as well as the economic achievements of recently arrived immigrants, we suggest that future research examine these issues in greater detail.

The significant decline in job status among immigrants that we find in our study is an observation that corroborates the findings of other Canadian research such as that by Creese and Wiebe (2009), Li (2003), Reitz (2003), and others (Akresh 2008; Chiswick et al. 2005; Rooth and Ekberg 2006). What our data reveals is that there is a significant decline in job status after arrival and that Canada is not benefitting as quickly or as completely from the pre-arrival training and education of newcomers.

An inevitable question we are asked is 'but aren't there many Canadian-born or trained workers who are over-qualified for their jobs?' We agree and we read the news stories regarding over-qualified and under-employed university graduates, a problem that appears to be increasing as the number of university-trained Canadians has increased in the 21st century. Uppal and Laorchelle-Cote (2014) find that among university-educated Canadians, only 15 percent worked in NOC C or D level jobs. Conversely, they find that 43 percent of immigrant females and 35 percent of immigrant males with university-level education are working in NOC C or D level jobs. Xu (2012) finds that 53 percent of all immigrant taxi cab drivers in Canada have a university degree or college diploma, a figure that eclipses the rate of Canadian-born taxi cab drivers with similar levels of education. She also finds that about 200 taxi cab drivers have MDs or PhDs. In summary, yes, being over-qualified for jobs is a problem for many workers in Canada. However, the issue is approximately three times greater in magnitude for immigrants than it is for those born in Canada.

The job-skills match for PNs regardless of province is the most positive, particularly for those living in British Columbia, which is likely a function of the way they run their program in that province. Nevertheless, it is troublesome that approximately half or nearly half of PNs living in the three Prairie Provinces still struggle to work in jobs that match their skill level. This is an interesting observation. It could be that among PNs, newcomers might make a conscious decision to accept jobs lower than their education or skill level just to gain entry to the province. We cannot tell the extent to which that is the case as respondents were not asked about job motivations or decision making prior to their arrival. It is, however, an interesting theory. Another explanation could be due to the quality of Canada's qualifications recognition programs. Finally, it could be that among university-educated newcomers, expectations of finding work commensurate with experience are significantly higher than we would expect. Clearly, more work needs to be done to address these issues and these inequalities.

Conclusion

The findings of our study confirm the job-status decline among newly arrived immigrants to western Canada. While our results are not very surprising, we do provide valuable evidence that elucidates if and how province of residence, entry class, sex, racialized status, acquisition of Canadian education and time in Canada influences the skills-education-job match among newcomers in their first five years in Canada. Of these variables, class of entry, combined with province of residence, have the most significant influence on credential recognition. Future research could examine whether or not the differences we identified can be seen among newcomers living in the Atlantic region, Quebec, and Ontario, and the three territories. A longitudinal study of the medium- and long-term labour market trajectories using NOC codes would also illustrate whether or not the skills-education-job mismatch continues throughout the settlement experience.

From a healthy economy perspective, anytime there is a group of people who are not working to their potential--in our case, newcomers--who are highly overqualified and over-educated for their present jobs, those people and the economy both lose. Prosperous capitalist societies take advantage of the education and skills immigrants bring with them and use them to increase the productivity of the economy. When Canada fails to recognize the skills of newcomers, it is not fully utilizing their potential. In the globalized economy, failure to recognize and utilize the skills and experiences of our newcomers, hinders the opportunities to connect and trade with international companies reducing our ability to market in other countries. Understanding how this system creates an exploited underclass also goes a long way in identifying sites of inequality that exist in the Canadian economy and does much to confirm the dual labour market perspective.

Regardless of the reasons for job status decline and its short and long-term effects on the economy, the outcome can be devastating for individuals and their families financially, psychologically and socially. From a financial standpoint, the standard of living for the family likely decreases significantly. From a personal self-esteem standpoint, individuals experiencing status declines are significantly more likely to feel depressed, lonely and worthless. From a community integration standpoint, people who do not feel integrated economically or occupationally are less likely to feel integrated socially or within the community. From a family standpoint, parents and spouses who struggle to integrate into the labour market share their struggles with other family members. Spouses and children of those struggling to find work that adequately meets their work experience, skills and prior education are likely to have family members who do not feel welcomed in their new communities, observations confirmed by findings from the Longitudinal Survey of Immigrants to Canada by Nakhaie and Kazemipur (2013). In short, labour market struggles can influence family well-being in more ways than just financially. The psychological health and well-being, as well as the social integration of large groups of newcomers is dependent on how well they are integrated into the labour market based on their skills, education and prior employment experience.

Notes

(1.) The Western Canadian Settlement Outcomes Survey was the result of a joint collaboration between the Western Consortium on Integration Citizenship, and Social Cohesion (headed by Lori Wilkinson, Joseph Garcea, and Li Zong) and Pathways to Prosperity Partnership (Victoria Esses and Leah Hamilton). Funding for the project was received from Citizenship and Immigration Canada, Western Region while contact data was obtained from Citizenship and Immigration Canada, National Headquarters.

(2.) Readers should note that only immigrants who reported having a job prior to their arrival and after their arrival are included in this analysis. We did not include those who were unemployed prior to or after their arrival.

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LORI WILKINSON is Professor in the Department of Sociology at the University of Manitoba, Director of Immigration Research West and Editor of the Journal of International Migration and Integration.

PALLABI BHATTACHARYYA is a third year PhD student in the University of Manitoba and is researching settlement issues among newcomers to Canada. She completed her Master's at Jadavpur University, Kolkata, India and is specialized in qualitative and quantitative research methods.

JILL BUCKLASCHUK is a Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada postdoctoral fellow at the University of Guelph in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology. Her work uses qualitative research methods to examine how non-permanent legal status impacts the social and workplace experiences of temporary migrants as they negotiate settlement in Canada.

JACK SHEN is a Master's student who is completing his thesis on problem gambling.

IQBAL AHMED CHOWDHURY is Assistant Professor in the Department of Sociology at Shahjalal University of Science and Technology, Bangladesh, and a PhD student in the Department of Sociology and Social Anthropology at Dalhousie University.

TAMARA EDKINS is a first year law student at the University of Manitoba. She has completed her Bachelor of Arts and Master of Arts in Sociology at the University of Manitoba. Her research interests include LGBTQ issues, mental health, and a focus on the rise of inclusive programs and anti-bullying policies and practices within Canadian schools, largely in relation to LGBTQ-inclusive education.

Caption: TABLE 2. Occupational Mobility by Province for Refugees

Caption: TABLE 6. occupational Mobility by Years in Canada TABLE 1. Pre-and Post-arrival Job Status by NOC Category, Immigrants and Canadians, 2013 Immigrant Born in Canada Pre-Arrival Post-Arrival NOC A 47% 28% 37% NOC B 30% 27% 26% NOC C 21% 31% 28% NOC D 2% 14% 9% Source: Statistics Canada (2014a) ALFS and WCSS (2013). TABLE 3. Occupational Mobility by Province for Provincial Nominees BC AB SK MB Status decline 22% 47% 45% 55% Stayed same 49% 27% 28% 22% Status increase 25% 26% 28% 23% Note: Table made from bar graph. Source: WCSS TABLE 4. Occupational Mobility by Province for Skilled and Professional Worker Classes BC AB SK MB Status decline 46% 55% 53% 66% Stayed same 31% 31% 33% 19% Status increase 23% 15% 14% 16% Note: Table made from bar graph. Source: WCSS TABLE 5. Occupational Mobility by Province for Family Class Immigrants Job Skills Mismatch for Family Class BC 56.5% 19.2% 24.3% AB 53.7% 18.5% 27.8% SK 54.2% 25.7% 20.1% MB 55.8% 22.7% 21.5% Note: Table made from bar graph. Source: WCSS TABLE 7. Occupational Mobility by Where Education was Attained NOC Skill Level A B C D Other Did not complete education 25% 26% 32% 14% 3% in Canada Completed education in Canada 32% 27% 29% 11% 2% Education in progress 17% 29% 31% 21% 2% Note: Table made from bar graph. Source: WCSS TABLE 8. Degree of Occupational Mobility from Pre-Arrival to Post-Arrival Job Job status change after arrival -4 NOC steps 12% -3 NOC steps 11% -2 NOC steps 17% -1 NOC steps 14% No change from pre-arrival job 25% +1 NOC steps 8% +2 NOC steps 6% +3 NOC steps 4% +4 NOC steps 4% Source: WCSS