Jobs and integration
Immigrants looking to break into job markets
In the province of Quebec, everything seems to be right with the world. St. Laurent is no exception, being home to one of the largest industrial bases in the province, and among the largest in Canada. Unemployment rates are low, and demand exits as much for skilled manual labour as well as white-collar employees. That said, Statistics Canada reported that things aren’t necessarily as rosy for immigrants who happen to be looking for work.
The numbers don’t necessarily reflect the same reality for St. Laurent residents, given the multicultural nature of the area, but the reality is there nonetheless; some immigrants are still finding it tough to get – and keep – a job. Language barriers, trouble with recognition of foreign diplomas and skills and cultural barriers all stand between immigrants and gainful employment.
Even if the unemployment levels are currently exceptionally low, the law of averages says that certain areas will almost always boast higher levels of unemployment, and immigrants, unfortunately, find themselves in that category. Unemployment levels among Montreal immigrants hover around the 18-per-cent mark, compared with the national average of 11.5 per cent.
More than half of St. Laurent’s residents are in that boat, and that can make life tough. The difficulties are myriad, especially when the machine in charge of helping immigrants find work isn’t perfectly well-oiled.
So says St. Laurent centre d'accueil et de référence sociale (CARI) employment co-ordinator Fadia Younan, who lives the reality day in, day out.
"Often, a misunderstanding of the job market in Quebec puts the brakes on for them. Bilingualism is also a problem. When they arrive here, they’re told they will only need to know one language. Employers often require the employees speak both languages," she said.
All too often, immigrants are forced to seek employment that has little or nothing to do with their area of study or training.
"Typical jobs they’ll take are ones where they’re recruited, like into call centers of general sales," Younan added.
Getting started
"Above all, there is a real will to get down to work," said St. Laurent Chamber of Commerce and Industry director Robert Petit. "We’re talking about competent people, and businesses always end up ahead by training them on the job. We’re talking about businesses that have immediate needs and openings to fill right away," he said.
In effect, some observers feel an ‘employment anteroom’ is needed in order to help new immigrants integrate more quickly into the job market. Of course, short-term solutions aren’t always businesses’ number-one priority, but would do well to dip into the veritable well of skilled labour being presented in coming years.
"The problem is training people to be ready," Petit said. "The Chamber is trying to sensitize businesses in terms of their preparation and training of employees," he said. Investments in terms of human resources are always calculated over the long term.
"Our businesses must understand that integration should always take place at a higher pace than the usual level of integration and organize themselves to do it effectively," said St. Laurent borough mayor Alan DeSousa in his annual presentation to the chamber. DeSousa even used the term 'wasting ' to describe the effect this influx of recently-landed skilled labourers.
A global view
Even if one can never really understand how the business market is going to react from one day to the next, certain signs can be read, and globally the situation is more or less stable.
"Movements of creation or reduction in jobs are frequent," Petit said. "It's tough to say if that will hurt St. Laurent, but from the high number of businesses in St. Laurent, it means we will have a relative stability in terms of job creation," he said.
Even if the bell of economic development in St. Laurent is tolling profitably these days (with job creation in the borough's three sectors of business having jumped to 110,000 last year from 87,000 in 2004), economic fluctuations and demands have a huge effect on local businesses, which can drop from 800 employees to 110, or the opposite, on short notice. Immigrants who take these types of short-term jobs often suffer from that short-term instability. In total, the efforts deployed must involve both business owners and immigrant employees; the former must put into place ways of integrating newcomers into the job market and the latter must adapt to a new social and linguistic context.
(Translated by Marc Lalonde)
Météo: Montréal, 17 mai 2008 / 11°C
/ Quelques nuages
/ Vents: 7 Km/h / Humidité relative: 66 % 
par Sylvain Sarrazin 
Steven Guilbeault - 
