| private sector managers | public sector managers | private sector labour leaders | public sector labour leaders | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Canada's immigration selection system does not focus enough on the skills /occupations required by my organization. | 49% | 42% | 61% | 54% |
| Immigrants often lack the necessary language and communication skills to be hired by my organization. | 58% | 57% | 69% | 59% |
| In my organization, immigrants often face barriers to employment because their foreign credentials are not recognized by regulatory bodies. | 44% | 45% | 53% | 55% |
| There are not enough resources and services available to my organization to help assess immigrants' education and credentials. | 50% | 51% | 70% | 66% |
| Immigrants' lack of Canadian work experience is a major problem for my organization when considering new job candidates. | 38% | 42% | 48% | 35% |
| In my organization, immigrants are more likely to require additional training than new employees who grew up in Canada. | 33% | 55% | 51% | 57% |
| Compared to new employees who grew up in Canada, immigrants have a difficult time adjusting to the workplace culture of my organization. | 30% | 33% | 48% | 39% |
| There should be more community supports to help integrate immigrants into the workforce and the community. | 61% | 77% | 72% | 76% |
The relatively low level of importance given to the hiring of new immigrants as an action for meeting future labour and skills requirements may be due to the perceived barriers and difficulties associated with internationally trained workers. For example, many of the managers and labour leaders surveyed in the Viewpoints Survey agreed that immigrants often lack the necessary language and communications skills to be hired by their organizations (Figure 35). In addition, about one-half of managers and labour leaders agreed that in their organization, or the organizations where their members work, immigrants often face barriers to employment because Canadian regulatory bodies do not recognize their international credentials. Importantly, one-half of managers said there were not enough resources available to their organizations to help them assess newcomers' education and credentials. Immigrants' lack of Canadian work experience was also seen as a problem for many managers and labour leaders, and many felt that new immigrants would require additional training beyond what would be required of an employee born and raised in Canada.
The perceived barriers and difficulties associated with hiring newcomers to Canada also figured prominently in the findings of the previous Viewpoints Survey conducted in 2002. In that survey, language difficulties, problems assessing foreign credentials and lack of Canadian work experience were also identified as the main obstacles in hiring internationally trained workersFootnote 28. It would appear that these long-standing issues have yet to be adequately resolved, at least from the perspective of Canada's employers and labour leaders. Given these views, it is perhaps not surprising that a large majority of respondents agreed that there should be more community supports to help integrate immigrants into the workforce and the community.
Return to note 28 Lochhead, Clarence (2003). Perspectives on Immigration: Findings from the Canadian Labour and Business Centre's Survey of Canadian Business, Labour and Public Sector Leaders. http://www.clbc.ca/Fitting_In/Perspectives_on_Immigration.asp