Although the Canadian government is working towards improving the rules around its immigration policies, it has been found that newcomers in Canada are finding it tough in the job market despite going back to school in large numbers.

According to a Statistics Canada report that was published last week, at least one in three immigrants who have Canadian degree in order to get better paid jobs, are employed at a rate far below than their Canadian born counterparts. This is evident from the fact that in 2007, the employment rate for the immigrants having Canadian University Degree was only 75.3 percent. But in case of the Canadian-born workers with equivalent qualification, employment rate was 90.7 percent. The study found that this gap reduces with time and is comparable after the immigrant has stayed in Canada for a period of almost 10 years.

The finding comes after an Australian reporter found that immigration policies changes introduced in Australia at the end of the last decade has improved the job prospects for the newcomers and she supported the reforms considered by Canada. According to the recent changes, only those migrants will be admitted into Canada whose skills are in high demand in Canada based on the list compiled by the government. The Australian academic, Lesleyanne Hawthorne, compared the immigration system of Australia with Canada and concluded that economic migrants have performed far better in Australia than in Canada in the past decade.

She found that the outcomes for the economic migrants moving to Australia and Canada were almost same at the start of the decade i.e. 2001. But, she noticed that the situation changed dramatically by May 2006. During this period, although the rate of employment for the immigrants went down in Canada, the number of immigrants finding jobs in Australia within six months after their arrival was up to 83 percent.

Reviewing the fare of immigrants in Quebec, Ontario and British Columbia- the three Canadian provinces that receive the highest number of immigrants- researchers found that although Quebec has the highest proportion of immigrants with a Canadian degree, it still has the widest gap in employability between the newcomers and the Canadian-born lads. At the same time, the other two provinces showed the market rate of the immigrants was at par with the native- born.

It is believed that the success of the Canada’s proposed changes will be determined by the fact that how nimble is the government’s list of the wanted professions and occupations.