Is it a case of Canadian kids just not wanting to work when a Tim Hotrons locations staff are all foreign workers?
No... it's profoundly different from that I think...
Immigration isn’t the problem: Canada’s job market needs fixing
Many Canadians blame immigrants for our job market problems, but recent research tells a different story. The real problem lies in how we fail to use immigrant talent effectively. Data shows that our assumptions about immigration’s impact on employment are often misguided.
Canada desperately
needs more houses built, yet immigrants rarely work in construction or trades. Only
25 per cent of recent immigrants work in these jobs, compared to
35 per cent of Canadian-born workers. This gap has existed for years and shows no signs of closing. It directly contradicts the common belief that immigrants are taking jobs from Canadians.
The technology sector tells a different story. Recent immigrants are
five times more likely to work in computer and
information systems than Canadian-born workers and are
twice as likely to be engineers. These aren’t cases of displacement—they’re examples of immigrants filling crucial gaps in our workforce. Many of these positions would remain empty without them, hurting our economy’s growth.
The real tragedy lies in how many skilled immigrants can’t find work in their fields. In Toronto, the unemployment rate for recent immigrants is
10.92 per cent, while for Canadian-born workers, it’s only
5.56 per cent. This disparity makes no sense, considering that
over half of recent immigrants have university degrees, compared to only
32.6 per cent of Canadian-born citizens. We’re actively wasting the talent we’ve invited to our country.
This misuse of immigrant talent comes with a steep price tag. Canada
loses $30 billion annually—
two per cent of our GDP—because we won’t let qualified people work in their fields. This isn’t just about fairness; it’s about economic common sense. We’re throwing away billions in productivity and innovation at a time when we can least afford it.
By Josie Simon, January 20 2025— Many Canadians blame immigrants for our job market problems, but recent research tells a different story. The real problem lies in how we fail to use immigrant talent effectively. Data shows that our assumptions about immigration’s impact on employment are often...
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