By Pradip Rodrigues
New Canadian Media

Immigrants may be the lifeline of the Canadian economy, but the system is designed to bring in highly qualified individuals to fill low-paying jobs outside of their professions, according to a Conference Board study.

Canada’s overdependence on immigrants and temporary workers in essential services is at odds with its economic immigration programs and pathways to permanent residency, which favour overqualified workers.

A recent study by the Conference Board of Canada found that many immigrants are overqualified and trapped in dead-end jobs. With domestic workers avoiding difficult jobs that not only pay poorly, but overqualified immigrants are also forced to take these jobs where factors such as race, gender and class hamper upward mobility.

Himmat Lal, clinic director at Trelawny Health Centre in Mississauga, says until five years ago, most job applicants he interviewed were Canadian-born. Today, most are work permit holders and international students.

“I have had candidates with master's degrees, engineers, lawyers and health professionals who cannot get re-trained to work in their fields looking for jobs,” he tells New Canadian Media.

“Many have been qualified professionals in their home countries and need the job to maintain their visa status or make ends meet.”

The study found these workers were concentrated in food manufacturing (34.9 percent), truck transportation (29.7 percent), and nursing and residential care facilities (29.2 percent), compared to their overall share of the workforce (23.8 percent).

According to the study, over 40 percent of home care providers and home support workers are overqualified. And about 15 percent of immigrant transport truck drivers are overqualified, compared with 1.6 percent of their non-immigrant counterparts.

A 2020 Employment and Social Development Canada report states that from 2001 to 2016, university-educated immigrants accounted for 71 percent of the growth in low- and medium-skilled employment, but only 29 percent of the growth in high-skilled employment.

Anmolpreet Kaur, who completed her diploma in computer networking from St. Claire College, in Windsor, Ontario, says stories of professionals getting “discouraged when they can’t get a job in their field and (taking) up any job” as a result  are “very common.” She estimates about half of the international students who graduated in her class now work in the service sector.

“One doctor who immigrated with his family from Chandigarh, India five years ago now drives a truck as he had to support his family and could not afford to go back to school to re-train,” she says.

Sukhraj Singh Sandhu, vice president of AZ Canadian Truckers Association, says many international students are getting into trucking because it is seen as easy to enter and lucrative.

“This is a big misconception,” he says.

“Many new drivers are willing to drive for wages less than they would earn in a factory or a fast-food restaurant in the hope that they can become owner/operators of their own trucks in the future. Wages have come down.”

According to the 2016 Census, seven sectors with the highest over-representation of immigrant workers aged 15 and older are finance and insurance, transportation and warehousing, real estate and rental and leasing.

Overqualification affects employers as well, as low job satisfaction among employees leads to low productivity and high turnover.

Essential work vacancies are projected to decline over the next five years. By 2026, vacancies are estimated to be 19 percent lower for registered nurses and registered psychiatric nurses; 20.4 percent for licensed practical nurses; and 52.6 percent for nurse aides, orderlies, and patient service associates.

However, the level of vacancies during 2021 and 2022 will be higher than during the pre-pandemic period due to a rebound in labour demand over the short term.

The limited opportunities for upward mobility in many essential service jobs is a key factor discouraging domestic workers from essential work positions, thereby fueling the shortage.

As a result, many businesses could continue to face labour challenges even if more immigrant workers are available.

The complex, lengthy and costly nature of recognizing qualifications gained abroad is one of the main causes overqualified immigrants take up survival jobs.

But the issue is more complex than only accrediting formal qualifications.

Some occupations require further training with limited spots available, such as residencies for medical doctors.

Employers’ dismissive perceptions and attitudes toward foreign work experience also cause overqualified immigrants to take up easy-to-access essential jobs that don’t leverage their full set of skills.

The study stresses the fact that immigrant selection at the federal level needs to reflect that not all vacancies in essential sectors require undergraduate education and above.

Re-calibrating economic policy in a way that provides pathways to bring permanent residents with the right skills, experience and training to work in essential occupations could help bring immigrants who are right for the job.

As it exists, people who actually qualify for essential service jobs can’t get enough comprehensive ranking points which the government uses to choose immigrants to invite into the country. The study suggests that individuals applying under these categories should be awarded more points for their experience and qualifications.

Compensation and benefits for the essential workforce also need to be recalculated to be livable and fair. Currently, the compensation and benefits framework for essential occupations is mostly based on rewarding skills acquired through higher education over “low” levels of skill that tend to be more labour-intensive. This means those stuck in essential service jobs have few incentives or opportunities to advance by way of wages or promotions.

Addressing the issue requires the government and employers to collaborate in order to make essential work more rewarding and attractive, the study found.

Meanwhile, a report from CIC News said the visa backlog at Immigration Canada stands at about 1.8 million in applications.

That includes;

• 548,000 permanent residence applications (economic, family, refugee, and humanitarian class applicants)

• 776,000 temporary residence applications (applications for study permits, work permits, temporary resident visas, and visitor extensions)

• 468,000 Canadian citizenship applications (as of October 26)

• 1,792,000 total applications in inventory

Immigration Canada figures indicate their backlog has grown by nearly 350,000 applications since July.

Immigration Canada also said it has processed during the pandemic;

• 337,000 permanent residence applications processed between January and September 2021. It processed some 214,000 applications in 2020.

• 1,500,000 temporary residence applications processed between January and September 2021. This compares to nearly 1,700,000 applications in 2020.

• 134,000 Canadian citizenship applications processed between January and September 2021. This compares to about 80,000 applications processed in 2020.