Immigrants a huge chunk of Metro Vancouver workforce
Immigrants make up a growing percentage of Metro Vancouver’s workforce, but their participation rates sharply vary by ethnic background.
Immigrants account for 43 per cent of all workers in Metro Vancouver, with 586,000 in the labour force, one of the highest proportions in the world, according to new census figures.
One of the few major global cities with a stronger percentage in the labour force is Toronto. In the Greater Toronto Area, half of all workers are immigrants.
However, the census figures released Wednesday show the participation rates of immigrants in the workforce differ widely by ethnicity.
Filipino, Japanese and white immigrants are the most likely to participate in the labour force and, when they do, to find jobs across Canada and in Metro Vancouver. Iranian, Arabic and ethnic Chinese immigrants, the latter being the largest group of newcomers, are the least likely to try to enter the Canadian workforce.
Only 47 per cent of the 35,000 adult ethnic Chinese immigrants who arrived in Metro Vancouver between 2011 and 2016 told census takers they were available for work. That compares to 80 per cent of recent Filipino immigrants, 82 per cent of white immigrants and 71 per cent of recent South Asian arrivals.
The low rate of ethnic Chinese participation in Metro’s workforce dovetails with other demographic analyses that indicate the city is increasingly becoming home to wealthy transnational Chinese immigrants, many of whom choose not to work even while they’re able to afford condos and houses.
Across Canada, 4.5 million immigrants are in the labour force. Immigrants have grown to 23.8 per cent of all workers in 2016, up from 21.2 per cent in 2006.
Statistics Canada released a statement Wednesday that said “the contribution of immigrants to the Canadian labour market is an important component of strategies to offset the impact of population aging, which might otherwise lead to a shrinking pool of workers and labour shortages.”
However, UBC economists Craig Riddell and David Green are among those disputing claims immigration can offset Canada’s large baby-boom generation.
It’s not possible to use immigration to replace aging boomers, the economists say in Policy Options.
“The results are definitive: Immigration is not a means to substantially alter Canada’s age structure and impending increase in the dependence ratio. Inflows of immigrants are just too varied in their age structure. They do not consist just of young workers, but include older family members as well,” they wrote.
In addition, Statistics Canada figures suggest older Canadians are doing their bit to bolster the labour market.
The proportion of people over 65 who remain in the Canadian workforce has doubled to 15.4 per cent since 1996, Statistics Canada official Sylvie Bourbonnais said.
Canadian-born people, and immigrants who have been here for years, have higher employment rates than recent immigrants.
In May 2016, just 68 per cent of recent immigrants between 25 and 54 were employed. That compares to 79 per cent of immigrants between 25 and 54 who have been in the country more than five years, and 82 per cent of the Canadianborn population.
In general, employment rates have declined across Canada, even as the federal government increases the number of immigrants. The national employment rate has dropped to 60.2 per cent in 2016 from 62.6 per cent in 2006.