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Discrimination at Work: Comparing the Experiences of Foreign-trained and Locally-trained Engineers in Canada

Abstract

This paper reports on the findings of a study of the experiences of discrimination faced by internationally- trained engineers in Canada. Three hundred foreign-trained and two hundred locally trained engineers were surveyed in order to identify the relationship of race, language proficiency, and location of training in finding work in the engineering field. In addition to measuring whether the applicants found work in the engineering field, this paper also sought to understand the perception of discrimination of internationally-trained engineers. Our findings demonstrate the relationship of race/ethnicity and its related marker—foreign training—with both ability to secure work in the engineering field and perceptions of discrimination. In the case of new immigrants, location of training was found to be a significant predictor of ability to find work in the engineering field, where locally-trained engineers were far more likely to acquire a job in the engineering field than foreign-trained engineers. Race/ethnicity was also found to be significantly associated with getting an engineering job among the locally-trained engineers

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