Overview

Abstract (English)

KEY POINTS: * Immigrants with language skills from Level 1 to Level 3 (ranging from the lowest skills to the minimum level required to live and work in a complex environment) have slightly lower hourly earnings than their Canadian-born counterparts. Immigrants with language skills at Levels 4 and 5 earn more on average than Canadian born. * A substantial jump in earnings occurs for immigrants when moving from Level 2 to Level 3, which seems to suggest that Level 3 is the so-called “tipping point” for the improvement of immigrants’ labour market outcomes. * Lower levels of language proficiency tend to be associated with lower rates of labour market participation and higher rates of unemployment. Regardless of language skill level, recent immigrants have much higher unemployment rates and participation rates than other groups. * Even those recent immigrants with high levels of language proficiency have unemployment rates 3 times those of Canadian-born or established immigrants. * Established and recent immigrants are less matched and more likely to hold positions for which they are over-educated than Canadian-born up to Level 3 language skills. At Level 4 and 5, however, immigrants hold positions that match their education at about the same rate as Canadian-born, and established immigrants are slightly more likely to be matched with their education than either Canadian-born or recent immigrants. * When skilled immigrants with a university degree and with strong language skills are compared with the Canadian-born, they are still found to have higher rates of education/employment mismatch.

Abstract (French)

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