This analysis of recent census and administrative data discusses the role immigration plays in building the nation’s capital talent pool and the extent to which it is underutilized. This article by Senior Researcher Clarence Lochhead explores the characteristics of recent immigrants to Ottawa in terms of education and skills levels, and illustrates the underutilization of foreign-trained talent.
The percentage of Canada’s immigrants who settle in Ottawa has remained at about 3% of all immigration to Canada over the past few years. Between 1996 and 2001, immigration made up 38% of Ottawa’s population growth. More remarkable is the fact that 51% of those who immigrated to Ottawa in 2001 held a university degree. In the same year, 6.3% of all Canada’s new immigrants with a Ph.D. intended to settle in Ottawa, almost twice the overall Ottawa settlement rate of 3.3% – the number of immigrants with a doctorate in that year exceeded the annual number of Ph.D. granted by the two local universities combined.
Despite this influx of highly-skilled immigrants, the failure to recognize their credentials contributes to higher levels of unemployment among them and to a poor match between jobs and skills. Recent Ottawa immigrants (Census 1996 data) aged 25 to 44 with a university degree were four times more likely than their Canadian-born counterparts to be unemployed. Even more alarming is the fact that for some recent immigrants, the transition from immigration to employment never happens.
