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Knowledge of Official Languages Among New Immigrants: How Important
Is It in the Labour Market?
2005
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Highlights
- After four years in Canada, immigrants say that the worst two difficulties that they faced since coming to Canada were finding an appropriate job and having to deal with the language barrier.
- Six months after their arrival, 58% of immigrants reported that they were able to speak English well or very well, while the corresponding figure for French was 11%. These percentages rose to 69% and 14% four years after their arrival. This was an ability self-reported by the immigrants.
- For immigrants in Quebec, learning or improving the language of the minority, English, seems just as important as learning or improving the language of the majority, French.
- Language training appears to be beneficial to immigrants, since among the immigrants who made progress, those who had taken language training were more likely to have advanced more than one level compared to those who had not taken language training.
- The employment rate of immigrants in the prime working-age group of 25 to 44 years went from 51% six months after their arrival to 65% two years after their arrival and 75% four years after their arrival. This rate approaches the national rate for Canadians in the same age group during the same period, namely 81.8%.
- The employment rate of immigrants increases with their ability to speak English.
- Overall in Canada, immigrants who reported speaking English well or very well, compared to those who reported speaking it less well, are more likely to have an “appropriate” job. The relationship between the self-reported ability to speak French and the chances of having an “appropriate” job is not as clear.
- In Quebec, the hourly earnings of immigrants who speak English very well are generally higher—regardless of their level of French—than those of immigrants who do not speak both official languages well. However, immigrants who speak French very well must also speak English very well in order for their earnings to be significantly higher than those of immigrants who do not speak both official languages well.
