Increasing wage disparities among immigrants in British Columbia

Canada, 1st May: Immigrants in British Columbia face huge wage disparities, reveals a recent report by the University of B.C. researchers.

As per the findings, earning potential of immigrants in British Columbia exhibits wide differences.

Newcomers face income barriers in Canada—Quoting the official figures by Statistics Canada, the research shows that income of skilled worksers coming to Canada between the years 2002 and 2008 earned lesser than those coming to British Columbia under its PNP(Provincial Nominee Program).

A large number of immigrants to Canada face huge wage gaps and these gaps reveal disparities existing between Canada-born people and immigrants. Some of these disparities include difficulties in integration at the workplace, language barrier and delays in credential recognition.

According to lead researcher and a student pursuing PhD in Economics at the University of BC, Haimin Zhang, wages or income of newcomers coming to British Columbia under the BCPNP (BC Provincial Nominee Program) was higher by nearly three times as compared to newcomers coming under Canada’s Federal Skilled Worker Visa program after a period of one year after coming here.

And these income disparities continued amongst immigrants to BC and skilled workers in BC even after their four year stay in Canada.

Reasons for income disparities between immigrants in BC—As per the study findings, such income disparities between immigrants to BC under two different streams could be due to following reasons—

• Condition of job-offer—The study seems to highlight the fact that the condition of having a prior offer of job in Canada is one reason why immigrants coming to BC under its PNP earn better income.

• Advantage of Canada experience-Another fact behind better income of immigrants to BC under the BCPNP is that nearly 70 percent of immigrants under this immigration stream had the advantage of prior work experience or study experience in Canada.

And in case of federal skilled workers in BC, prior work experience in Canada or study in Canada is found just in 20 percent of immigrants.

• Faster processing under PNP—Another thing is that the provincial nominee program of BC likely attracts highly skilled immigrants to this Canadian province due to the benefit of shorter immigration processing times.