Immigrants can help with economic recovery
Highly trained workers essential, and there are many available among recent arrivals
This spring we have witnessed some parts of our economy and society brake suddenly while others go into overdrive. Economic figures for March 2020 indicate that Canada is in sharp recession already. Business owners and precarious workers (part-time, contract and seasonal) are the ones most at risk of losing their livelihoods, and immigrants are overrepresented in both categories.
We know that ongoing immigration is a positive for our economy overall, but that it often takes a toll on individual immigrants who are unable to find work that suits the skills they brought with them. Dur- ing a recession such as we experi- enced in 2008, newcomers bore the brunt of the unemployment in the first instance, and their rates of employment took the longest to recover. (Newcomers are defined as having arrived in Canada within the previous five years.) For the present time, immigration has been halted, and it is highly unlikely that Canada will reach immigration targets for 2020. Yet Hamilton has approximately 15,000 immigrants who have arrived since 2011, many of whom are in the labour market or wish to be.
In this context of reduced immigration combined with ongoing underemployment among many of our existing newcomers, how can immigrants contribute to our economic recovery? Findings in a new report from the Hamilton Immigration Partnership Council (HIPC) point to some potential areas of action.
HIPC commissioned a labour market analyst to do a deep dive into the most recent census to learn about city’s newcomers and their connections to the local labour market. Earlier research had shown that Hamilton was receiving less than its “fair share” of immigrants to Ontario (less than its share of the provincial population overall). Also, Hamilton has tended to attract immigrants and newcomers whose levels of educational attainment have been somewhat lower than those seeking to settle in other parts of Ontario.
This has changed in recent years, particularly among women. Among newcomers arriving in the most recent period of immigration (2011-2016) and who are in the labour force, almost half (49 per cent) have a university degree, double the rate for Canadian-born Hamilton residents (25 per cent). The most common fields of study for male newcomers are engineering and engineering technology, followed by business and administration. Among newcomer women, the most common fields are health care and business and administration.
While Canadian-born individuals make up roughly three-quarters (74 per cent) of all Hamilton residents, immigrants make up a sizeable proportion of university degree holders in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics). Of all Hamilton residents holding a STEM degree higher than a Bachelor, more than half (56 per cent) are immigrants, with almost two-thirds of them earning that degree outside of Canada. In brief, Hamilton’s immigrants are highly educated on average.
Yet even with these higher levels of educational attainment, Hamilton immigrants are more likely than Canadian-born residents to be employed in an occupation that typically requires a high school diploma or less. Specifically, they are more likely to work in entry-level manual labour jobs in construction and manufacturing and entry-level service occupations such as cooks, cashiers, cleaners, food counter attendants, and personal support workers.
Given their skills, Hamilton’s newcomers can be an important part of our city’s recovery. The recession recovery will likely involve investment in infrastructure (a typical stimulus response) and manufacturing, with possible moves to consolidate dispersed global supply chains back into the province. The health-care field is already experiencing skills shortages, and needs have been exposed throughout this pandemic. We must build more resilience within the health-care system, especially around long-term care needs. Employment in longterm care could be made more attractive if combined with opportunities for occupational advancement, including bridging to other parts of our health care system.
While many may fill gaps in the labour market by taking entry-level positions, maximizing the earnings potential of newcomers benefits our economy in multiple ways and allows newcomers to use the skills that made them attractive for immigration in the first place. Given the prospect of lower immigration in 2020, the need to retain newcomers in Hamilton is all the more urgent.
We face much uncertainty these days. But we know that skills will be needed to help our economy rebound, and to fill gaps in our healthcare system and in other sectors. The province has taken a few steps to open up access to internationally educated health-care workers in the fight against COVID-19. It is time to adopt a longer-term vision, and to act on it.
Lily Lumsden (YMCA Hamilton Burlington Brantford) is the Chair of Hamilton Immigration Partnership Council (HIPC), and Judy Travis (Workforce Planning Hamilton) is a HIPC member. The HIPC report Newcomers and Immigrants in the Hamilton Labour Market: Outcomes and Opportunities for Improvement is available
on HIPC’s website: http://hamiltonimmigration.ca/research