Purpose.
This study explores the impact of provincial policies to address systemic barriers to employment for racialized individuals (both immigrants and Canadian-born) in Alberta. Our goal is to identify specialized policies and government-sponsored employment programs (such as employment agencies, settlement agencies, and recruitment agencies, etc.) and identify racialized Albertan’s (both immigrant and Canadian-born) ability to find employment in the Canadian labour market. The issue of discrimination of racialized immigrants in the Canadian labour market has been raised and studied before; However, it is important to re-examine this problem as the existing data shows that the unemployment rate of racialized immigrants is increasing. This analysis will consist of a comparative analysis of the labour market participation of racialized immigrants in different provinces in Canada, particularly provinces which welcome the most racialized immigrants such as Ontario, Quebec, British Columbia and Alberta. To our knowledge, there is no economic study which investigates and compares systemic barriers facing racialized citizens and immigrants at the provincial level.
Starting in the summer of 2020, our Undergraduate Research Assistants (URAs) will review the existing literature on racialized employment in Alberta and, review policies at a provincial and federal level, to understand what policies address racialized un/under employment and the hiring and promotion of newcomers and racialized individuals living in Canada.
Procedures. In short
Using publicly available data from Stats Can website and IRCC data sources (for example, iCARE, GCS, Newcomer Survey, GCMS) we will compare racialized unemployment among Canadian-born and immigrant individuals living in Alberta, BC, Ontario and Quebec.
Starting in the summer of 2020, our Undergraduate Research Assistant will review policies at a provincial and federal level to understand what policies address racialized un/under employment and the hiring and promotion of newcomers and racialized individuals living in Canada.
Finally, members of the research team will conduct interviews with key participants across the private and public sector (N = 10) to understand what services, policies, funds, networks are in place to help immigrants successfully find work.
Why now? Why is this study important? How is it different from past work?
The goals of this research project are to:
1. Provide an up-to-date understanding of the level of employment of racialized individuals in Alberta over the last twenty years;
2. Identify policies around employment equity specific to racialized immigrants and Canadian-born racialized individuals living in Alberta over time; and,
3. Map a holistic overview of the environment where racialized individuals (immigrants in particular) are searching for and successfully finding employment.