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'Survival Employment': Gender and Deskilling among African Immigrants in Canada.
- Source :
-
International Migration . Oct2012, Vol. 50 Issue 5, p56-76. 31p. 2 Charts. - Publication Year :
- 2012
-
Abstract
- Recent research points to a growing gap between immigrant and native-born outcomes in the Canadian labour market at the same time as selection processes emphasize recruiting highly educated newcomers. Drawing on interviews with well-educated men and women who migrated from countries in sub-Saharan Africa, this paper explores the gendered processes that produce weak economic integration in Canada. Three-quarters of research participants experienced downward occupational mobility, with the majority employed in low-skilled, low-wage, insecure forms of 'survival employment'. In a gendered labour market, where common demands for 'Canadian experience', 'Canadian credentials' and 'Canadian accents' were uneven across different sectors of the labour market, women faced particular difficulties finding 'survival employment'; in the long run, however, women's greater investment in additional post-secondary education within Canada placed them in a somewhat better position than men. The policy implications of this study are fourfold: first, we raise questions about the efficacy of Canadian immigration policies that prioritize the recruitment of well-educated immigrants without addressing the multiple barriers that result in deskillling; second, we question government policies and settlement practices that undermine more equitable economic integration of immigrants; third, we address the importance of tackling the 'everyday racism' that immigrants experience in the Canadian labour market; and finally, we suggest the need to re-think narrowly defined notions of economic integration in light of the gendered nature of contemporary labour markets, and immigrants' own definitions of what constitutes meaningful integration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 00207985
- Volume :
- 50
- Issue :
- 5
- Database :
- Academic Search Index
- Journal :
- International Migration
- Publication Type :
- Academic Journal
- Accession number :
- 80026574
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-2435.2009.00531.x