Skilled Labour Migrants: Ticket to Nowhere
Although perceived globally as a hot spot for skilled labour migrants, shortly after arriving in Canada, many immigrants have found they've purchased a ticket to nowhere.
A mechanical engineer slicing meat in a deli. A lawyer shovelling asphalt for a construction company. A building inspector delivering pizza. An agricultural consultant with a PhD selling hardware at Home Depot.
Even as the B.C. government and local industries complain loudly about the province’s skilled-labour shortage, talented newcomers with impressive CVs and armloads of international credentials are working minimum-wage jobs or, worse, no job at all. Thrilled to receive permanent residency, these educated and experienced immigrants arrive in B.C. expecting to find suitable employment. Many of them are, on paper, exactly the kind of new Canadians Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s government is trying to attract. But the bitter workplace reality they are discovering in B.C. is driving these professionals away. All too often they don’t get hired without Canadian experience, and their credentials aren’t recognized until they complete arduous and often expensive retraining to gain qualifications.
As U.K.-trained architect Steve Burland explains, “The way immigration works is you have to apply to the federal government and the federal government says yes, you are qualified to do this profession. But it is totally disconnected with what happens in the provinces and nobody makes you aware of this until you arrive. So you think you’ve done all your homework, and suddenly find that what you’ve done and what you think you know is totally useless.”
Are protectionism, racism and government miscommunication making it hard for new immigrants to get work in a province complaining about a skilled-labour shortage?
Two years ago, a Canada West Foundation survey reported that 73 out of 76 professional associations across the western provinces anticipated labour shortfalls by 2006, and 40 per cent said the number of graduates in their respective fields would be inadequate to meet future industry demand. “In individual categories, the shortages in B.C. could be quite severe,” says Credit Union Central of B.C. economist David Hobden. “Certainly in mining, oil and gas, with commodity prices so high, there’s been a lot of exploration and ramping-up of existing mines and wells and therefore a big demand for skilled workers. Pharmacists and nurses are always in short supply. And we need social workers and people for the retail trade.” Meanwhile, the red-hot construction industry is driving demand for architectural, engineering and design services. By 2013 the number of new jobs created in the construction sector alone is predicted to exceed 60,000.
Burland, 48, immigrated to Vancouver in 2001 and spent much time and effort to pass his Architectural Institute of B.C. exams. As of May, five-plus years later, his skills were officially recognized at the conclusion of “a little tortuous” processing of his Royal Institute of British Architects paperwork plus an oral exam. He now works for DGBK, but as a member of the Institute of Foreign Architects he is keenly aware of the fate of many of his peers who, unable to make use of years of training, ended up in the sales office.
South African systems engineer Duly Peer, 55, can only wish for a sales job. Or a waiter’s. Since December of last year he has submitted more than 50 job applications, beginning with employment opportunities in his field including project management, senior engineering and wireless research. Not one nibble.
Born and raised in South Africa, Peer, who is of Indian descent, escaped the apartheid regime when he was 17 after winning a United Nations scholarship to study in Europe. Not wanting to be treated as a second-class citizen, he lived in self-imposed exile in Germany for 17 years. After Nelson Mandela was freed from prison he eagerly returned to his homeland in 1992 in time for the country’s first full and free elections. With apartheid on the way out, Peer believed he could achieve his full potential.
He met his wife, Shere, and within a few years they built a comfortable life for themselves and their three kids in Johannesburg. With two German-earned degrees – a master’s in systems engineering and an MBA – plus extensive work experience at home and abroad, Peer enjoyed a $144,000 annual salary heading the research division of Eskom, Africa’s largest electricity producer and one of the world’s top 10 electricity suppliers. Shere contributed to the family’s income as an accountant with the South African government, specializing in audits and taxation. Financially and socially life was good, but after four carjackings and several house invasions, the Peers decided to move to Canada last year for the safety and future of their children, aged five to 10.
An immigration consultant in South Africa told Duly Peer that a man of his background would find it easy to attain a comparable position in Canada, and Peer admits he did little research to find out how difficult it would be to get into the job market. “I thought with my engineering degree and with my background and work experience, there must be some company out there I can create value for. But now I feel that Canada says we will give you permanent residence, you are highly skilled, you fit the profile but I have the impression that I must do unskilled work.” He lowered his expectations and sought entry-level tele-communication jobs in the $40,000 range. No luck.
And so he lowered them again. Having earned extra money waiting tables in restaurants during his student days, he tried to resurrect his serving skills to pay the rent by taking a $14-an-hour job at a large hotel. “I thought, I’m not getting work and I need some type of income so I thought I would use these other skills that I have. But they said: ‘Duly, you are a professional, the waiters that we have here will not accept you.’ And the guy who interviewed me said, ‘You look like my own boss. How can I employ you?’”
Disillusionment flashes across his face as he discusses his efforts to find work and the effect of the changed circumstances on his family. Living on their savings and cashed-in retirement funds, reluctant to splurge on even a trip to Tim Hortons, has left the family “very disheartened,” Peer says. “We’ve told the children that we are having trouble finding work and that I might be going back to South Africa. They are not saying anything, but you can see the expression on their faces and it is very sad. All of my life I have been learning, reading, writing, doing research, exchanging ideas, meeting engineers and going to conferences. I’ve never been in a situation like this and the longer I stay here the more frustrating it becomes.”
The birth rate is dropping and boomers are starting to retire. B.C. needs immigrants; without them the province stands no chance of maintaining a growing labour force. But while multiple degree-holders such as Peer raise the IQ of the province, they don’t necessarily have the skills that B.C.’s short-staffed tourism, transport, energy and construction sectors are looking for. Duly Peer says it’s time for government and industry to co-operate to make sure potential immigrants know landing a job will be tough. “I think Canadian immigration will do justice to the immigration process if they could partner with Canadian industry to find the right profile of people they need.”
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