In the past, there were job opportunities for immigrants in agriculture, mining, forestry or other manual occupations. Today this is not the case. Ninety-four percent of immigrants settle in metropolitan areas, especially in Canada's three largest cities. The well-paid manual jobs are fewer and more difficult to find. On the other hand, there is an anticipated shortfall of skilled workers as the present baby-boom generation retires. In some areas and job categories, this shortfall is already here.
For the kind of skilled professionals required in health services, in education, and in other modern sectors of the economy, a comfortable knowledge of English is essential. A technical expert or engineer, no matter how well qualified, needs to work with other people and provide leadership. This requires familiarity with the local culture. It is impossible to overstate the importance of Canadian language and cultural skills in the workplace.
The point is sometimes made that immigrants bring with them the language and cultural skills of their homeland which can create commercial opportunities for Canada. This statement is true only to a very limited extent. In fact the overwhelming majority of jobs are oriented towards the Canadian and North American market, and to a lesser degree to the other major economies of the world in Europe and Japan. If you count only on employment using your original language and culture, you are severely limiting your opportunities.
By and large, employers are looking for people who not only understand written English, but who are comfortable communicating in English, and who can relate confidently with co-workers and customers. This requires competent English language skills and familiarity with Canadian mainstream culture. In reality, most jobs require people who can perform comfortably in the common language and culture.
Unfortunately, a significant percentage of the recently arrived skilled independent immigrants have difficulties communicating in English. This is not different from the situation fifty years ago when my parents came to Canada. This phenomenon costs the individual immigrants and the Canadian economy. It inhibits the full utilization of these people's skills in a productive way. What is different today is that immigrants tend to concentrate in a few cities, with the result that there is a growing number of children born in Canada to immigrant families who also have difficulty speaking English.
At present, employers are not involved in the immigrant recruitment and settlement process. It is left to the Government Immigration Department to arbitrarily fix the number of immigrants desired and then try as hard as possible to achieve that goal. Immigration officials determine who they think is likely to find employment in Canada, but they are not very successful in this selection process.
Many of the recent skilled immigrants have trouble finding appropriate employment. They often turn to various government funded social service organizations for assistance. The result is a large number of frustrated and disappointed immigrants who leave stable employment and a comfortable social status behind in their country of origin to find underemployment in Canada.
Take charge of your own language learning and don't rely on others to teach you. An independent, self-reliant and proactive approach to your language learning will help you in all aspects of integrating into your new country. This will be reflected in a more positive attitude generally that will help you find and keep good employment. It is your English communication skills, not your test results, that will help you become comfortably established in your new country.
