02-24-2006, 08:59 PM
http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/...26fa634af7
People of colour and particularly young workers face discrimination in the Canadian job market that leaves them more likely to be unemployed, underemployed and in low paying jobs than their counterparts who are not among visible minorities, according to a study released Thursday by the Canadian Labour Congress.
The study, Racial Status and Employment Outcomes, conducted by Simon Fraser University graduate student Leslie Cheung, found that the situation for young Canadian-born workers of colour is even worse than for those born outside the country, suggesting that the discrimination can't be explained away by a lack of Canadian experience or credentials.
"These differences are not based on real differences of skills and education, but rather on perceived differences based on race," Cheung wrote in her report. "Racial discrimination is a large contributing factor to the poor labour market outcomes of Canada's racialized workers.
"Lower incomes, higher unemployment, and precarious work status are prevalent for workers of colour as a whole, and not just recent immigrants. In fact, it is the non-immigrant, racialized population, who are more highly educated than average, which has the most difficulty finding steady employment at decent wages."
In an interview, Cheung said her report, which is based on data from the 2001 Canadian census and the 2000 Survey of Labour and Income Dynamics, is only a preliminary study of an issue that she said warrants further research. However, Cheung suggested it is also a wake-up call for Canada if it does not want to find itself in the position of other countries where such discrimination leads to social and economic upheaval.
Visible minorities formed 12.6 per cent of Canada's workforce. In 2000, the unemployment rate for Canadian-born visible minorities was 10.7 per cent compared to 9.1 per cent of immigrants who were visible minorities. The employment rate for all other workers was 7.1 per cent, the study said.
Annual earnings of Canadian-born visible minorities averaged $21,983 in 2000, while immigrants of colour earned $25,205 and other Canadians earned $30,141, the study said.
Cheung's call for Canada to tackle the problem was echoed by the CLC, where Cheung, who is finishing her masters in public policy, completed the paper during a summer co-op placement last year.
"As Canadians, individually and collectively, we must come to grips with the harsh realization that every day we are straying further and further away from our goals of equality," Hassan Yussuff, the CLC's secretary-treasurer, said in a release announcing the findings.
"Can we predict a strong future built on hope, respect, solidarity and citizenship when racial discrimination prevents workers who are more highly educated than average to find and keep steady employment at decent wages?"
Cheung, at 24, points out she is a young Canadian-born worker of colour and highly educated, and while she said her full-time studies mean she wouldn't be counted among underemployed workers, she knows of others who are experiencing the effects of the job-market discrimination that she has written about. Cheung said reaction to her findings has been mixed.
"It is either 'we don't want to talk about this at all,' or 'yes, let's take this head on,' " she said.
Cheung said the data, which looked at minorities, although it put aboriginal people into the same category as whites, was limiting but nonetheless demonstrated a trend.
"It was shown that all workers of colour are lagging behind other workers," she said. "It was the workers of colour who are Canadian born who were not doing as well, even though you would assume it would be the foreign-born workers.
Cheung said while the labour market in such centres as Toronto and Vancouver might suggest the percentage of workers of colour would be higher, across Canada they account for 12.6 per cent of the workforce.
gshaw@png.canwest.com
People of colour and particularly young workers face discrimination in the Canadian job market that leaves them more likely to be unemployed, underemployed and in low paying jobs than their counterparts who are not among visible minorities, according to a study released Thursday by the Canadian Labour Congress.
The study, Racial Status and Employment Outcomes, conducted by Simon Fraser University graduate student Leslie Cheung, found that the situation for young Canadian-born workers of colour is even worse than for those born outside the country, suggesting that the discrimination can't be explained away by a lack of Canadian experience or credentials.
"These differences are not based on real differences of skills and education, but rather on perceived differences based on race," Cheung wrote in her report. "Racial discrimination is a large contributing factor to the poor labour market outcomes of Canada's racialized workers.
"Lower incomes, higher unemployment, and precarious work status are prevalent for workers of colour as a whole, and not just recent immigrants. In fact, it is the non-immigrant, racialized population, who are more highly educated than average, which has the most difficulty finding steady employment at decent wages."
In an interview, Cheung said her report, which is based on data from the 2001 Canadian census and the 2000 Survey of Labour and Income Dynamics, is only a preliminary study of an issue that she said warrants further research. However, Cheung suggested it is also a wake-up call for Canada if it does not want to find itself in the position of other countries where such discrimination leads to social and economic upheaval.
Visible minorities formed 12.6 per cent of Canada's workforce. In 2000, the unemployment rate for Canadian-born visible minorities was 10.7 per cent compared to 9.1 per cent of immigrants who were visible minorities. The employment rate for all other workers was 7.1 per cent, the study said.
Annual earnings of Canadian-born visible minorities averaged $21,983 in 2000, while immigrants of colour earned $25,205 and other Canadians earned $30,141, the study said.
Cheung's call for Canada to tackle the problem was echoed by the CLC, where Cheung, who is finishing her masters in public policy, completed the paper during a summer co-op placement last year.
"As Canadians, individually and collectively, we must come to grips with the harsh realization that every day we are straying further and further away from our goals of equality," Hassan Yussuff, the CLC's secretary-treasurer, said in a release announcing the findings.
"Can we predict a strong future built on hope, respect, solidarity and citizenship when racial discrimination prevents workers who are more highly educated than average to find and keep steady employment at decent wages?"
Cheung, at 24, points out she is a young Canadian-born worker of colour and highly educated, and while she said her full-time studies mean she wouldn't be counted among underemployed workers, she knows of others who are experiencing the effects of the job-market discrimination that she has written about. Cheung said reaction to her findings has been mixed.
"It is either 'we don't want to talk about this at all,' or 'yes, let's take this head on,' " she said.
Cheung said the data, which looked at minorities, although it put aboriginal people into the same category as whites, was limiting but nonetheless demonstrated a trend.
"It was shown that all workers of colour are lagging behind other workers," she said. "It was the workers of colour who are Canadian born who were not doing as well, even though you would assume it would be the foreign-born workers.
Cheung said while the labour market in such centres as Toronto and Vancouver might suggest the percentage of workers of colour would be higher, across Canada they account for 12.6 per cent of the workforce.
gshaw@png.canwest.com
© The Vancouver Sun 2006