Job hunting is tough for new immigrants in Canada

Canada, 9th September: As per the figures revealed by Statistics Canada, nearly two-thirds of new immigrants having university degrees are finding it difficult to get jobs in the chosen field.

And this is especially true for immigrants who don’t have the required work experience in their related field.

In the event of being without jobs in Canada, many immigrants, especially newcomers are forced to work on part-time jobs or lower-paid jobs in Canada, the report by StatsCan maintains. 

Getting a job in the business world can be easier if you know people and have a social network.

Although, Canada government has been trying to help new immigrants by offering various employment courses like S.U.C.C.E.S.S.( a B.C.(British Columbia program for immigrants), however, still several immigrants have to struggle a lot before landing a job in Canada.

The fact is that many immigrants arriving in Canada and deciding to stay and work here possess requisite skills, professional or university degrees and have good proficiency in English, but that does not get them a job in the respective field.

A migrant from Argentina, Veronica Grigio has a university degree in the field of anthropology, but she is currently working at the Italian Cultural Centre as a receptionist. She intends to get further education in Vancouver University to improve her chances of getting a job in Canada in medical anthropology.

She is not alone. In fact, there are several doctors who are currently working as cabbies in Canada and many engineers who work as cleaners while those having degree in anthropology are seen working at low paid jobs in Canada.

No wonder, the average weekly wage for immigrant workers in the age group of 25-54 years happens to be $2.28 an hour while that of Canadian born workforce in the same age group is around $23.72 an hour.

Workers who are Canadian-born, aged between 25-54 years and possess university degrees also are under-employed, however, the percentage of underemployment or joblessness among new immigrants is twice more bad.

Also, the gap between average weekly wages between those who had immigrated to Canada five years ago and Canada-born workforce possessing university degrees is quite wide- that is about $5 an hour.