South Asian Professionals Forum Canada

In 2006: 1.8 million graduated in Canada from fields of study leading to regulated professions.

Of these, 208,700 were immigrants educated in Canada, while 403,900 were immigrants who were foreign-educated.

Foreign-educated immigrants from regulated fields of study had an unemployment rate of 7.0%, while immigrants with Canadian degrees in regulated fields of study had an unemployment rate of 4.2%, a gap of 2.8 percentage points.

Among immigrants from a field of study that typically leads to a regulated occupation, over one-half (52%) of foreign-educated graduates had engineering degrees.

62% of the Canadian-born were working in their regulated profession for which they were trained compared to only 24% of foreign-educated immigrants working in their own fields.

Of the Canadian-born who studied dentistry, 90% worked as dentists compared to 44% of immigrants.

While 69% of the Canadian-born who studied law worked as lawyers, the corresponding figure was 12% for immigrants.

Engineering was the most common field of study in a regulated occupation for immigrants. Of the 157,900 immigrants who studied engineering and were employed, 30,000 were working as engineers, a match rate of 19%.

Immigrants to Canada indicate that they faced a number of challenges in the Canadian labour market, most importantly: not enough Canadian job experience, lack of connections in the job market and foreign credentials not being recognized.

Others suggest that immigrants may lack knowledge about getting their skills recognized, employers may lack knowledge about foreign credentials, and there may be real differences in the quality of foreign credentials relative to domestic qualifications.

Immigrants with the highest match rates studied in English-speaking countries, the official language spoken by the majority of Canadians. In fact, these immigrants had very similar match rates to the Canadian-born. Immigrants who studied in Ireland, New Zealand and South Africa had match rates that were similar to the 62% rate for the Canadian-born, while the match rate for all immigrants was 24%.

While foreign-educated immigrants were less likely to work in the regulated occupations for which they held degrees, this discrepancy narrowed with time spent in Canada. However, even after 10 years in Canada, foreign-trained immigrants trailed the match rate of the Canadian-born by 27 percentage points, while Canadian-educated immigrants trailed by 6 percentage points.

On a provincial level, match rates were highest for immigrants in the East, particularly in Newfoundland and Labrador (with rates similar to the Canadian-born). Match rates for immigrants were also above the national average in Saskatchewan and Alberta, regions that had strong labour markets in 2006. In contrast, Quebec and British Columbia had match rates that were below the national average, while Ontario's match rate mirrored the national average.