Immigrants and the Labour Force: Policy, Regulation, and Impact
Ravi Pendakur
McGill-Queen’s University Press
In "Immigrants and the Labour Force", Ravi Pendakur considers whether today's immigrants are more upwardly mobile than those who came to Canada earlier, whether they face discrimination in the labour force, and whether refusal to recognize credentials earned before migrating hurts life chances in the new country. He looks at the roles post-war immigrants have played in Canada's urban labour force and the ways these roles have changed in response to changes in intake policy and economic conditions, exploring these issues in the context of two changes that have dominated immigration and labour force patterns for the last fifty years. First, Canada's primary source for immigrants has shifted dramatically from the United Kingdom and Europe to countries outside Europe. Second, there has been a remarkable transformation in the nature of work: Canada's economy has changed from relying on resource extraction to an emphasis on manufacturing, and presently is emerging as post-industrial and knowledge-based. Pendakur combines an analysis of parliamentary debates on immigration issues with an evaluation of the regulatory and policy changes that resulted from these discussions and an analysis of how the work of immigrants changed over a five-decade. He then provides both a political and quantitative analysis by looking at issues that affect not only immigrants but minorities born in Canada in order to assess the degree to which labour market discrimination exists and whether employment equity programs are needed.