Trades-Related Post-Secondary Educational Attainment among Immigrant and Canadian-Born Young Adults in Alberta

This paper examines trades-related and university educational attainment (by age 25) of immigrant and Canadian-born Alberta youth while controlling for gender, family socio-economic status, high school grades, and parental encouragement regarding higher education. Data from the longitudinal Alberta School-Work Transitions Study (1996 – 2003) reveal significant differences between immigrants and non-immigrant young adults in terms of trades-related post-secondary education (PSE). Multinomial logit analysis shows that Alberta immigrant youth are significantly more likely than their Canadian-born counterparts to attain trades-related PSE credentials by age 25. Important factors explaining these differences include parental encouragement and high school grades. Cet article porte sur les réalisations relatives aux métiers et à l’éducation universitaire avant l’âge de 25 ans chez de jeunes immigrants d’une part et de jeunes albertains nés au Canada d’autre part. L’étude tient compte du sexe, du statut socioéconomique de la famille, des notes au secondaire et de l’appui parental en ce qui touche l’enseignement supérieur. Les données provenant d’une étude longitudinale albertaine portant sur le passage de l’école au travail (Alberta School-Work Transitions Study 1996 – 2003) révèlent des différences significatives entre les jeunes adultes immigrants et non-immigrants quant à l’éducation postsecondaire associée aux métiers. Une analyse logit multinomiale démontre que les jeunes albertains immigrants sont nettement plus susceptibles que leurs homologues nés au Canada à obtenir un diplôme d’éducation postsecondaire associée aux métiers avant l’âge de 25 ans. Parmi les facteurs importants qui expliquent ces différences notons l’appui parental et les notes au secondaire

Precarious Employment: Labour Market Insecurity among Immigrants in Canada

Using the Canadian Labour Force Survey (2006-2012), I examine the prevalence of and trends in precarious employment, comparing recent and established immigrants to their Canadian-born counterparts. I define precarious employment as holding jobs that involve involuntary part-time work, temporary contracts, or multiple job holding. Although current Canadian labour market research views precarious work as a vital part of that country’s employment outlook (see Krahn, 1995; Vosko et al, 2003; Goldring, 2009; Kapsalis and Tourigny 2004; Zeytinoglu and Cooke 2005) just one Canadian study specifically examines immigrants employed in this type of work (Godin and Renaud, 2005). As a result, my research is unique in examining immigrant participation in non-standard work within Canadian labour markets offering an interdisciplinary approach combining perspectives from sociology and economics. The findings of my research indicate that recent immigrant males and females are overrepresented in involuntary part-time work and this trend is increasing over time. This trend also exists for established immigrants although to a lesser extent. I also observed that recent immigrant women are nearly twice as likely as Canadian-born women to be employed in temporary jobs, net of the controls. For the purposes of further investigation of precarious work among immigrants I expand my research by running multilevel models at individual and CMA levels and find employment in temporary jobs and multiple jobs by both recent and established immigrant males is affected by a CMA’s median hourly earnings as well as the immigrant representation in a CMA. In addition, cross-level interactions reveal that recent male immigrants less likely to be employed in multiple jobs in CMAs in which the median wage is higher. Finally, I use OLS regression to focus on how these types of jobs may lead to lower earnings among these newcomers. I find that recent immigrants are struggling financially due to wage disparities in part created by precarious employment. Both males and females experience an initial earnings disadvantage that is further exacerbated by being employed in involuntary part-time work, temporary work and multiple jobs. Overall, my findings suggest that some form of government intervention is needed through immigration policy reform if Canada values the economic integration of its large immigrant population