The Visible Minority Population in Canada: A Review of Numbers, Growth and Labour Force Issues

Abstract

In this paper, the Visible Minority Population in Canada: Numbers, Growth and Labour Force Issues, the characteristics of the visible minority population and labour force are examined including those employed by firms under the Legislated Employment Equity Program and the Federal Contractors Program. The future growth of the visible minority labour force and the socio-economic impact of the findings are discussed along with their implications.

The Social Patterning of Work-Related Insecurity and its Health Consequences

“…Immigration, particularly from Asian countries, has been the primary driver behind this growth in the visible minority population and looming skills shortages mean that Canada's economy will need to increasingly rely on importing large numbers of workers to remain competitive (Malatest 2003;Antunes et al 2004). However, despite making large contributions Canada's economic output, recent immigrants who are also visible minorities continue to endure wage gaps and barriers to job and career advancement relative to their non-visible minority counterparts (Beck et al 2002;Antunes et al 2004;Yap 2004;Saunders 2005;Samuel and Basavarajappa 2006). For example, recent estimates put the earnings and wage disadvantage of visible minority workers relative to all other workers at 16 and 9%, respectively (Hum and Simpson 2006).…”

“…For example, recent estimates put the earnings and wage disadvantage of visible minority workers relative to all other workers at 16 and 9%, respectively (Hum and Simpson 2006). Moreover, factors including a learning recognition gap and systemic racism have been identified as significant barriers to job mobility among visible minorities whose share of received promotional opportunities across economic sectors has been estimated at just 16% (Samuel and Basavarajappa 2006). Visible minority workers also have substantially lower rates of pension coverage: among visible minority men, for example, the rate of employersponsored pension coverage was reported at 46% in 1998 compared to 57% for other male employees (Morissette 2002).…”

L’état de la reconnaissance et de la non-reconnaissance des acquis des immigrants africains francophones en Alberta

“…Des études soulignent aussi que cette situation relève souvent de la nonreconnaissance des diplômes et de l'expérience professionnelle obtenus à l'étranger (Houle et Yssaad, 2010 ;Li, 2003 ;Reitz, 2007). Ainsi, en 2005 les acquis de 340 000 immigrants n'ont pas été reconnus au Canada (Samuel et Basavarajappa, 2006). De nombreux facteurs sont liés à la non-reconnaissance des acquis des immigrants tels que le niveau de compétence en anglais et en français, de même que la qualité de l'enseignement et de l'expérience de travail prémigratoires (Picot, 2008).…”

The Dynamic Effects of Entrepreneurship on Regional Economic Growth: Evidence from Canada

“…Furthermore, a number of studies also show that stimulating entrepreneurship in lagging regions may not be productive (Blanchflower 2000(Blanchflower , 2004Greene, Mole, and Storey 2004;Shane 2009;Van Stel and Storey 2004). 8 Aside from the focus of our analysis on entrepreneurship as determinant of regional growth, our estimation also accounts for the population in a region in terms of minorities due to the historical and growing significance of minorities in Canada (Statistics Canada 2001), 9 due to their role among the self-employed (Samuel and Basavarajappa 2000), as well as due to an empirical lack of conclusive evidence of the role of minorities to economic growth in Canada. 10 Some studies have found the effect of visible minorities on Canadian regional growth to be positive (Antunes, MacBride-King, and Swettenham 2004) while others have gathered contradictory evidence (Hou 2004).…”

“…“In 2000, SMEs represented 6 percent of all the self‐employed in Canada and visible minorities owned 7 percent of all the SMEs.” (Samuel and Basavarajappa :246).…”