This was in todays National Post. Sorry for the format. Steve
February 25, 2002 Skilled immigrants overlooked in job market: study 'Racial discrimination more of an issue' Eric Beauchesne Southam News OTTAWA - Racism and failure to recognize the education and skills of recent immigrants help explain why they are not doing as well in the job market as in the past, a new federally funded study charges. "Unfortunately, the situation of recent immigrants compared to other Canadians has worsened considerably," says the study released today by the Canadian Council on Social Development. In 1998, recent immigrants who had arrived between 1985 and 1998 earned on average $18,011, or 66% of the $27,305 earned by non-immigrants or those who had arrived prior to 1985. "Census data for 1981 to 1996 on recent immigrants ... showed a progressive trend toward lower rates of labour force participation and lower levels of earnings among immigrants compared to the Canadian-born population," says the study by the social policy think-tank based in Ottawa. "Part of the reason is that racial discrimination has, indeed, become more of an issue as new immigrants are increasingly drawn from visible minority groups who are more vulnerable to racism." For example, the labour participation rate of recent immigrants fell to 68.3% in 1996 from 86.3 in 1981. Immigration accounted for 70% of the growth in the labour force a decade ago and is expected to account for all of the growth within 10 years, notes the study, funded in part by the federal government. At least three of four recent immigrants are visible minorities who also make up 11% of the total population, virtually double the proportion in the mid-1980s. "The large gaps in earnings between recent visible minority immigrants and other Canadians cannot be explained by inferior levels of formal education," it says. "The point system used for selecting immigrants brings many highly educated people to Canada." In 1998, the proportion of university graduates among all immigrants, including refugees, was substantially higher than for Canadians, it notes. For immigrant men, the proportion was 36%, double the 18% for Canadian men, and for immigrant women it was 31% compared with 20% for Canadian women. Yet the proportion of immigrants living on low incomes was high at 52% among those who had arrived after 1991 and 35.1% among those who had arrived after 1986. The report calls for new policies to promote employment equity, the provision of language and skills training to new immigrants and the recognition of foreign credentials. -- http://magma.ca/~gpco/ http://www.scientists4pr.org/ Anyone who believes exponential growth can go on forever in a finite world is either a madman or an economist.--Kenneth Boulding
