August 2023
Spotlight on data and research
Internationally educated healthcare professionals in Canada: Sociodemographic characteristics and occupational distribution
Labour shortages in healthcare professions have become a pressing issue across Canadian jurisdictions and were made worse by the COVID-19 pandemic. This article presents new information about the distribution of IEHPs across provinces and territories and examines their sociodemographic characteristics and occupations across major fields of study.
The results show that IEHPs are a very diverse group based on their field of study, region of education, highest level of education, period of arrival in Canada, and official language proficiency. About 58% of employed IEHPs in Canada worked in health occupations in 2021, and the proportion working in health occupations was higher among those who studied nursing (69%) or were trained to be physicians (67%) than in other health fields. Across other major fields of study, 63% of IEHPs who studied pharmacy and 60% who studied dentistry were employed in health occupations.
Research articles
What’s included in Canadians’ rent?
There is considerable concern about the affordability of rental housing in Canada. However, it can be hard to compare rental costs across different dwellings and regions. This study uses rental inclusions, meaning the services or amenities, such as utilities, parking, or air conditioning, included as part of tenants’ rent, to explore their potential impact on rental costs. For those paying rent, common inclusions are water and other municipal services (71%), appliances (23% in Quebec, but 70% or more in other provinces), parking (53%), electricity (31%), and oil, gas and other fuels (26%).
Rental inclusions are a valuable source of information regarding the comparability of rental costs across Canada. For instance, it is estimated that the inclusion of air conditioning and appliances explain around 8% and 7%, respectively, of the difference in rental costs between Ontario and Quebec, while the inclusion of appliances accounts for around 11% of the difference in average rents between British Columbia and Quebec.
Poverty among racialized groups across generations
This article shows that most racialized groups had higher poverty rates in 2020 than White people. Differences in poverty rates between racialized and White people were largest among first-generation Canadians and mostly decreased in the second and third generations. However, poverty rates were persistently higher for some racialized groups (Black, Latin American, Arab, Southeast Asian, West Asian, and Korean people) than White people from the first generation to the third generation or more. The gap in the poverty rate between racialized groups and White people was partially due to differences in sociodemographic characteristics.
Among first-generation Canadians, poverty rates ranged from a low of 3.9% for Filipino people to a high of 15.4% for Arab people, compared with 7.0% for White people. With the exception of Filipino people, first-generation Canadians from all other racialized groups had higher poverty rates than White people.
Changing demographics of racialized groups in Canada
This article provides new data on the growth of racialized groups and changes in their household structure. Between 2001 and 2021, the number of racialized people in Canada increased from 3.85 to 8.87 million. Most racialized people are immigrants, but an increasing number are Canadian born. Few racialized people have been in Canada for more than two generations.
The increase was largest for the Arab, West Asian, and Filipino groups, which grew 254%, 214%, and 207%, respectively. The growth rates of the Japanese, Chinese, Southeast Asian, Korean, and Black groups ranged from 42% to 154%. This compared with a 1% increase in the size of the White population.
In 2021, many second-generation Canadians from racialized groups were children or adolescents and lived with their immigrant parents and often with their grandparents as well. The high prevalence of these types of household structures suggests that the poverty rates of second-generation Canadians from racialized groups are linked to the economic outcomes of their immigrant parents.
Related publications
Analytical Studies Branch Research Paper Series
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