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In both Canada and the United States, immigrants constitute a disproportionately large share of the supply of university-educated labour trained in the science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields. This article examines the Canada-U.S. differences in the occupational skill utilization and earnings of STEM-educated immigrant workers. Using data from the 2016 Census for Canada and the combined 2015 to 2017 American Community Survey, this analysis focuses on immigrants with a university degree in a STEM field who were aged 25 to 64 and arrived as adults. Over one-half of STEM-educated immigrant workers in both countries held non-STEM jobs. In Canada, only about 20% of these immigrants with non-STEM jobs worked in occupations that required a university education, compared with 48% in the United States. There was a large earnings gap between STEM-educated immigrants and native-born workers in Canada, even after adjusting for sociodemographic differences, while no corresponding earnings gap existed in the United States. The earnings gap in Canada was particularly large for STEM-educated immigrants holding non-STEM jobs. Possible explanations for these results are discussed.

In Canada, immigrants represented more than half of the population in the prime working ages with at least a bachelor's degree in the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields of study in 2016. They accounted for three-quarters of engineering and computer science graduates with a master's or doctorate degree. This paper examines the skill utilization and earnings of employed STEM-educated immigrants by field of study and degree level. Compared with the Canadian-born with similar levels of education and in similar fields of study, immigrants with a bachelor's degree had considerably lower skill utilization rates and earnings outcomes than those of doctoral degree holders. This is mostly because immigrant doctoral graduates are more likely to be educated in a Western country. By field of study, immigrant engineering graduates, particularly at the bachelor's level, had relatively weaker skill utilization rates and earnings outcomes; immigrant computer science graduates did somewhat better. The slightly more than half of STEM-educated immigrants who did not find a STEM job had the weakest skill utilization rates and earnings outcomes. Much of the gap between the earnings of immigrant and Canadian-born graduates was associated with differences in country of education. STEM immigrants educated in Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom or France had outcomes similar to the Canadian-born.

This paper focuses on the potential of competency assessment to support the long-term growth of the labour market by facilitating the appropriate employment of skilled immigrants. A competency-informed approach involves looking holistically at an individual's ability to apply knowledge and skills with appropriate judgment in a defined setting. The report details several key projects World Education Services (WES) will undertake as part of our commitment to a more holistic, competency-informed assessment model of immigrants' knowledge, skills, and abilities. Ensuring that immigrants have access to pathways to employment, education, and training must be an essential piece of a long-term plan for Canadian growth and prosperity.

The rapidly growing supply of university-educated workers from both immigration and domestic educational institutions, coupled with relatively slack demand for educated labour, has raised concerns about skill use in the Canadian economy. This study uses census data from 2001 to 2016 to compare trends in over-education among recent immigrants and Canadian-born youth. The study showed that only about one-half of the growth in university-educated workers over this 15-year period was matched with growth in jobs requiring a university education. University-educated recent immigrants became more concentrated in jobs requiring less than a university education. In comparison, Canadian-born youth with a university degree became less likely to work in jobs requiring high school or less education.

This study compares the differences in the mismatch between the education and occupations of immigrants in Canada and the United States, operationalized by over-education. It further explores how the cross-country differences may be related to the supply of and demand for university-educated immigrants and the way they are selected. Using comparable data and three measures of over-education, this study found that university-educated recent immigrants in Canada were much more likely to be overeducated than their U.S. peers. The over-education rate gap between recent immigrants and the native-born was much more pronounced in Canada than in the United States. In addition, while labour market demand was associated with a lower level of over-education in both countries, a greater supply of university-educated recent immigrants was positively associated with a likelihood of over-education among recent immigrants in Canada, but not in the United States. Furthermore, in Canada, the over-education rate was significantly lower among immigrants who were admitted through some form of employer selection (e.g., immigrants who worked in skilled jobs in Canada before immigration) than those who were admitted directly from abroad. Overall, this study provides insight into how the immigration system interacts with broader aspects of the labour market to shape the labour market outcomes of immigrants.

Using 2016 Canadian Census data, this article examines the socioeconomic status of the second generation of immigrants, whose population has become increasingly diverse. The analysis focuses on group differences by visible minority status in two aspects relating to socioeconomic mobility: (1) intergenerational progress in educational attainment, which indicates the ability to achieve higher education regardless of parents' education, and (2) the relationship between education and labour market outcomes, which reveals the ability to convert educational qualifications into economic well-being. The results in general paint a very positive picture for the children of immigrants regarding the first aspect, while mixed results are evident for the second aspect. In particular, some visible minority groups are characterized by high educational attainment and high earnings, while some other groups experience low education mobility and low labour market returns to education. These results suggest that there are divergent paths of socioeconomic integration among the second generation.

Since UNESCO's Salamanca Declaration in 1994, inclusive education has progressively attracted attention in international debates around education policy. While some evidence exists on the positive impact that inclusive education reforms can have on the academic and personal outcomes of diverse students -- and in particular of students with special education needs -- limited information is available on the economic sustainability of such reforms. Starting from the literature on the correlations between education and individuals' life outcomes, this paper reviews the existing evidence on the potential benefits and costs of inclusive education reforms. Specifically, the paper discusses the evidence on the shortcomings of current education settings for diverse groups of students -- with specific sections on students with special education needs; immigrant and refugee students; ethnic groups, national minorities and Indigenous peoples; gifted students; female and male students; and LGBTQI+ (which stands for 'lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and intersex') students. It highlights the individual and societal costs deriving from the low academic, social and emotional outcomes of these students and the socio-economic costs these yield for societies. Where possible, the paper also presents evidence on the effects of inclusive education reforms on diverse student groups.

The increased migration of skilled workers globally has led to a focus in the immigration literature on the economic costs of unsuccessful labour market integration. Less attention has been given to the consequences of employment difficulties, such as those related to over-education, on aspects of immigrants' subjective well-being. Although a large proportion of immigrants experience over-education, studies examining the relationship between over-education and life satisfaction tend to concentrate on the general population. These studies find a negative relationship between over-education and life satisfaction. Since immigrant and Canadian-born (non-immigrant) workers may experience over-education differently, it is important to examine this relationship in both groups. This study examines how over-education is associated with life satisfaction among university-educated immigrant and non-immigrant workers in Canada, and accounts for differences in the degree of over-education in each group. Results indicate that overeducation was negatively associated with life satisfaction among immigrants and non-immigrants, although the effect was weaker in the immigrant population. Income was the main factor mediating the negative relationship between over-education and life satisfaction among immigrants. Furthermore, this relationship weakened with immigrants' increased residence in Canada. This may suggest that over-education is less influential in immigrants' assessment of life satisfaction over time, or the effect of over-education is weaker among earlier arrival cohorts. Results also indicated that the negative relationship between over-education and life satisfaction was weaker for immigrants from developing countries compared with those from developed countries.

It has been well documented that the children of immigrants in Canada outperform their peers with Canadian-born parents in educational attainment, and that the two groups have similar labour market outcomes. However, large variations by ethnicity or source country exist among the children of immigrants. This study examines the extent to which admission class (e.g., skilled workers, business immigrants, live-in caregivers, the family class and refugees) also matters in the socioeconomic outcomes of childhood immigrants who arrived in Canada before the age of 18. Using the 2011 National Household Survey, linked with the Immigrant Landing File, this study finds large differences by admission class in university completion rates and earnings for childhood immigrants aged 25 to 44. Children of skilled workers and business immigrants had the highest university completion rates and earnings. Children of live-in caregivers and in the family class had the lowest university completion rates, and children of live-in caregivers and refugees landed in Canada had the lowest earnings. The analysis shows that the admission class of immigrant parents matters to their children's outcomes partly through group differences in the education and official language ability of parents and partly through the unique pre- and post-migration circumstances experienced by each admission class.

This discussion paper is part of a larger Movement for Canadian Literacy (MCL) project entitled "Linkages: Connecting Literacy and English as a Second Language" (ESL). The goal of the overall project is for MCL to work with national organizations that support the ESL/Settlement and literacy fields to identify common issues and concerns and to document areas for mutual cooperation in the future. The purpose of the discussion paper is to highlight and summarize current Canadian research over the last five to seven years in terms of key themes, issues, gaps and needed strategies on connections between literacy and ESL. The paper will also reflect the perspectives of a small number of key informants from the literacy, ESL, and settlement fields on key themes. Appendices include: (1) Key Informants; and (2) Interview Questions. (Contains 2 tables and 41 footnotes.)

In this paper, the author would like to put forward a number of issues to think about and discuss. At the same time, she argues for a better articulated system that more closely matches the needs and goals of various subgroups of English language learners. Adult ESL programs serve diverse immigrant populations with different needs and goals. A One-Size-Fits-All approach limits the effectiveness of services and "cheats" groups at either end of the educational spectrum--those without literacy in their native language at one end, and those with higher levels of education in their native country at the other. If education adapts and varies adult ESL services to differentiate instructional programs according to literacy needs and previous schooling experience, they will have a more educationally sound system. Efforts to change the system and create separate pathways for different groups of immigrants will not happen without investment and planning on all levels--program, state or province and federal--and without focused attention to the specific needs and goals of each subgroup. Creating a better articulated and more focused system will require more resources, but much time and effort is currently wasted in an undifferentiated system that purports to be all things to all people, yet does not serve any given group as well as it could. A bibliography is included.

Youth represent one of the most culturally diverse groups in Canada. It has been shown that labour market participation among immigrant youth, especially those who are members of a visible minority, has been lower than the Canadian-born. Using the 1996 Census, this paper provides an overview of labour market attachment of immigrant and visible minority youth in Canada. Specifically, we examine the patterns of labour force participation among youth aged 15-29. Comparisons are made between youth who are foreign-born and Canadian-born, as well as between visible minority and non-visible minority youth. In general, immigrant youth are less likely to have work experience than Canadian-born youth. Recent immigrant youth are less likely to participate in the labour market than the Canadian-born as well as immigrant youth who have been in the country longer. Employment outlooks for immigrants who came as children are better than that for those who came as teens or young adults, especially among women. Visible minority immigrant youth are more likely to be unemployed than those who do not belong to a visible minority group. These findings are interpreted in light of the policy implications with respect to youth employment strategies. (Contains 1 footnote, 4 figures, and 5 tables.) [This paper is available in French under the title: "Jeunes et visibles: Acces des jeunes immigrants et membres de minorites visibles au marche du travail."]

This paper analyzes the effects of language practice on earnings among adult male immigrants in Canada using data from the 1991 Census of Canada. It examines whether destination language skills are complements to or substitutes in generating earnings with respect to other kinds of human capital (schooling and pre- and post-migration labor market experience). Results show that earnings increase with schooling, pre-immigration experience, duration in Canada, and proficiency in the official languages (English and French). There is complementarity between language skills and both schooling and pre-immigration experience. Greater proficiency in the official languages enhances the effects on earnings of schooling and pre-immigration labor market experience. Language proficiency and post-migration experience appear to be substitutes, in that among people with greater language proficiency, the impact of time in Canada on earnings is smaller. (Contains 15 references.) (Adjunct ERIC Clearinghouse for ESL Literacy Education) (SM)

Unlike many recent immigrants who entered Canada as highly trained professionals in their countries of origin, most of Canada's immigrant garment workers are working-class women with little education. The Apparel Textile Action Committee (ATAC) and Homeworker's Association (HWA) are among the bodies that were established to assist immigrant garment workers in Canada who lost their jobs to industrial restructuring and became home workers. The experiences of both bodies has made it clear that the training available to these women does not meet their needs as immigrants with a limited command of English. A study of the informal learning outcomes of HWA's members yielded the following findings: (1) most immigrant garment workers have little expectation that taking classes will lead to better jobs and higher pay; (2) although most immigrant garment workers do not expect that English-as-a-second language (ESL) classes will make them fluent in English, their ESL classes serve important social and educational purposes by giving participants a place to develop a sense of sociability with other workers and learn strategies for negotiating their lives as non-English speaking immigrants and their rights as workers; and (3) although classes are obvious places to look for informal learning, the HWA's executive meetings provide environments for explicit "political learning." (MN)

Many immigrants, refugees, and aboriginal Canadians learn their own languages in the normal, informal way. These minority languages learned informally are not valued as a skill that yields returns in the labor market in the same way the official languages or formally learned languages do. What counts as a skill in a society, in a given point in time, is the product of complex phenomenological, social, economic, ideological, and political processes. Discourse is key to this process of social and cultural reproduction. The discourse of Ontario employers socially constructs the definition of what counts as a skill in Ontario workplaces and thus what warrants value in the labor market. The notion of skill is a construction that is socially created and hence changeable. If we want to change the unjust situation that affects the speakers of minority languages, we need to change the discourse surrounding minority languages to one that truly values minority languages as skills worth conserving, maintaining, and putting to use. (Contains 18 references.) (YLB)

This paper focuses on children with a migration background and conceptualises their migration experience as adversity. The paper adapts the resilience framework to understand how immigrant children can overcome adversity. The paper discusses policy models that can be derived from adopting a resilience approach to the measurement of immigrant students' integration prospects and proposes a policy analysis framework. The "CHARM" framework helps to assess the extent to which destination country policies and practices support the educational and socioemotional well-being of immigrant children. Namely, it evaluates whether policies to consider (1) Cumulative adversity; adopt a (2) Holistic approach; consider (3) Adjustment as a dynamic process; identify a (4) Relational development; and implement a (5) Multilevel approach. The paper finally applies the CHARM framework to the education policies of Ontario, Canada and underscores the relevance of applying the CHARM framework across countries and jurisdictions to evaluate education policies that can promote the resilience of immigrant children.

The paper examines between-country differences in the mechanisms through which education could promote generalised trust using data from 29 countries participating in the OECD's Survey of Adult Skills (PIAAC). Results indicate that education is strongly associated with generalised trust and that a large part of this association is mediated by individuals' literacy skills, income and occupational prestige. However, education gradients in levels of generalised trust and in the extent to which they are due to social stratification mechanisms or cognitive skills mechanisms vary across countries. Differences across countries in birthplace diversity and income inequality are correlated with how strongly education is associated with trust in different countries, as well as in the relative magnitude of direct and indirect associations. In particular, the relationship between literacy skills and generalised trust is stronger in the presence of greater birthplace diversity but is weaker in the presence of greater income inequality.

This working paper seeks to explore the reasons why educational attainment in the immigrant population varies between North America and Europe. Specifically, the examples of Canada and Switzerland are used as Canada has an immigrant population with a typically higher rate of post-secondary education than that of the domestic population, while in Switzerland the opposite is true. Analysis shows that while differences in immigration policy play a significant role, there are many other variables which affect educational attainment in immigrants, such as the education level of the parents, source region and home language. Tables are appended. (Contains 14 tables and 20 footnotes.)

This working paper assesses the ease of immigrants' integration in OECD labour markets by estimating how an immigration background influences the probability of being active or employed and the expected hourly earnings, for given individual characteristics. Applying the same methodology to comparable data across twelve OECD countries, immigrants are shown to significantly lag behind natives in terms of employment and/or wages. The differences narrow as years since settlement elapse, especially as regards wages, reflecting progressive assimilation. Strong differences in immigrant-to-native gaps are also observed across countries, and the paper shows that they may, to a significant extent, be explained by differences in labour market policies, in particular unemployment benefits, the tax wedge and the minimum wage. In addition, immigrants are shown to be overrepresented among outsiders in the labour market and, as such, highly sensitive to the difference in employment protection legislation between temporary and permanent contracts. (Contains 36 footnotes, 1 figure and 10 tables.)

Education plays an essential role in preparing the children of immigrants for participation in the labour market and society. Giving these children opportunities to fully develop their potential is vital for future economic growth and social cohesion in OECD countries. But migrant students in most OECD countries tend to have lower education outcomes than their native peers. Extensive previous research has described the system level, school level and individual level factors that influence the education outcomes of migrant students. Building on such previous research, this paper looks at the ways in which "education policies" can influence these factors to help provide better educational opportunities for migrant students. (Contains 7 footnotes.) [This review was prepared for the OECD Thematic Review on Migrant Education. It was presented and discussed at the Second Meeting of the Group of National Experts on the Education of Migrants in Paris on 13-14 October 2008.]

The papers related to Canadian language policy at an international conference are presented: "Language Policy in Canada: Current Issues" (Juan Cobarrubias); "Multiculturalism and Language Policy in Canada" (Jim Cummins, Harold Troper); "Defining Language Policy in a Nationalistic Milieu and in a Complex Industrialized Region: the Quebec Case" (Jean-Denis Gendron); "The Impact of Minority on Language Policy and the Impact of Language Policy on Minority in Quebec" (Don Cartwright); "Facts and Fancies in Language Education of Ethnocultural Minorities" (Bruce Bain); "Language Education for Northern Canadian Native Students: A Case Study of Fort Albany, Ontario" (Kelleen Toohey); and "Multiculturalism as De-acculturation" (Claudia Persi-Haines, Ian Pringle). (MSE)

Because of a growing community of non-English speakers in British Columbia, there is an urgent need for effective teaching programs in English as a Second Language (ESL). Non-English speakers frequently face educational deprivation, difficulty in using their skills and in finding employment, dependency on government assistance, and, if children, disadvantages in entering the school system. ESL services have been provided on an ad hoc basis. ESL services should be expanded and equitably distributed to meet identified needs. Each institution that offers ESL programs should have a core of full-time, trained instructors. Pre- and in-service training including adult education and community practice should be available for teachers in the public and private sectors. A special ESL curriculum should address individualized instruction and independent learners. Outreach programs such as industrial English and Open Learning Institute distance programs should be developed to improve access. A central resource center should provide for the development and exchange of information and materials, and for pre- and in-service training. Funds should be provided to meet the full costs of adult ESL programs in colleges and school districts, including costs of identifying needs, developing programs and curricula, instruction, assessment, support services, and evaluation. Discussions and data related to specific recommendations in these areas are provided. (Author/AYC)

Recommendations of a 1980 symposium on English as a second language (ESL) programs for Southeast Asian adult refugees and immigrants in Canada are discussed, along with six principles toward a Canadian policy for providing ESL training to this population. Ten major points of the 53 recommendations of a position papers of Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESL) Canada are presented, along with a brief introduction to TESL Canada and background information to the TESL Canada position paper. It is recommended that language training be recognized as the key factor in immigrant integration and should be made explicit through new federal language-training policy that integrates social and employment rationales. A two-stage post-arrival model is also advocated that would involve a full-time, 3-month (300-hour) reception program combining survival English with native-language orientation services, as well as occupational assessment and career counseling. It is recommended that the new Canadian language-training policy should adhere to six basic principles set out by TESL Canada: accessibility to ESL training, flexibility and sufficiency, coordination, support for settlement services, Canadian content in the ESL Program, and the key role of the ESL profession. Appendices include: a 1981-1982 TESL Canada Directory, a list of recommendations from the 1981 Greater Toronto Southeast Asian Refugee Task Force Report, a summary of recommendations to the federal government, and a bibliography. (SW)

General implications for counseling Asian immigrant women were sought through individual and group counseling at King Edward Campus of Vancouver Community College. The campus is the base for the centralized English as a second language program for new Canadian adults in British Columbia. The research focused in part on nine women who were tested and interviewed. Sociological and psychological dynamics that counselors and teachers should understand include the minority group status of the immigrant, difficulties in understanding a new culture, severe economic stress, unfamiliarity with democratic processes, Asian "identity" versus North American "identity" constructs, culturally influenced social relationship patterns and roles of women, and the acceptability of expressing feelings in Asian culture. Nine implications for counseling, which can be extended to the teaching relationship, are presented. (SW)

Individual assessment of students of English as a second language is advocated. Based on a model used by Pearson, four language assessment areas are outlined: the semantic base in a first language, the syntax of the first language, the lexical items "shared" by the two languages, and the number and complexity of the phonemic elements in the target language that are lacking in the student's first language. Additionally, literacy in the first language should be assessed. These areas of consideration are most important for students who are "under-educated." Statistics on educational levels attained by British Columbia adults and by immigrants are presented. The large numbers of under-educated speakers of English as a second language indicates the need for assessment of students in the four language areas before specific decisions are made regarding instruction. (SW)

During the early seventies, the number and ethnic origin of immigrants to British Columbia has changed to such an extent that the B.C. school system has felt the effect. Teachers in the elementary grades increasingly were faced with students who lacked fluency in the language of instruction. When it was discovered that a third of the students under the supervision of the Vancouver School Board spoke English as a second language (ESL), funds were made available to double the existing ESL program. This included increasing programs for training teachers of ESL. The quality and quantity of summer programs for ESL children were increased, as were programs to assist parents and children in adjusting to a new culture. In addition, teachers are seeking information on the cultural backgrounds of immigrant children. It is suggested that the Department of Education could assist school districts by providing expertise in the area of program and curriculum development, and by coordinating ESL and orientation programs for immigrants and their families. (AM)

A community-based program for adults learning English as a second language has been carried out by Vancouver Community College in British Columbia. The program, known as Neighborhood English Classes of the college, offers classes at accessible locations in the community to serve immigrants who are unable or unwilling to attend the intensive program at King Edward Campus or its night centers. Three distinct types of classes are offered: classes for seniors, adult evening classes, and the "moms and tots" classes. The origins and development of the program are discussed. Based on a survey of students, information is provided on the following characteristics: education, language and cultural background, length of residence Canada, social role responsibilities, and personal characteristics. Special demands of the teaching situation are outlined. Monthly teacher workshops are held to develop good morale and growth in the quality of the program. Teaching techniques and content selections appropriate for the students are discussed. (SW)