Employment gaps and underemployment for racialized groups and immigrants in Canada: current findings and future directions

This report is one of a series that explore a number of the most important issues currently impacting the skills ecosystem in Canada. While Canada faces labour shortages due to a declining birthrate and aging population, many Canadians experience obstacles to employment and are underemployed relative to their educational and professional backgrounds. 'Foreign-sounding names' are 20 to 40 per cent less likely to get a call-back for a job interview, depending on company size. Challenges like these are faced by immigrants, racialized people, and especially women in these two groups - seemingly regardless of the job candidate's skills. This report summarizes current data on employment outcomes for racialized Canadians and for recent immigrants to Canada, reviews the literature that seeks to explain these gaps and analyzes studies of programming and policy designed to close these gaps - including in the areas of settlement and bridging. While much is known about the problem itself, solutions to date have been fragmented.

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