Not all Foreign-trained Doctors and Engineers Face the Same Hurdles
Written By Diana Hart
Canadian immigration is known for its points system, striving to only bring the most skilled and educated people from around the world to make Canada their home. The struggles of these highly trained immigrants as they try to find work has been an ongoing problem. Yet according to a new Statistics Canada study, not all internationally trained doctors and engineers face the same level of difficulty finding work.
The study found unemployment is most common with foreign-trained doctors from West, East, and South East Asia, as well as Eastern Europe. Doctors who were originally from Western Europe or South Asian countries have better odds of practicing medicine in Canada.
Study co-author, Monica Boyd, says the apparent advantage held by those trained in South Asian countries may be tied to their colonial past. In the study, the authors write that those coming from nations that speak or teach English or French have an advantage as knowing Canada’s official language greatly helps immigrants to find work.
If a doctor is born and trained in Canada, he or she has a 92 per cent chance of working as a physician. Their counterparts from Africa or South Asia are also likely to be able to work in their profession (at 85 and 87 per cent respectively). If a physician is from other parts of Asia or Eastern Europe, he or she will be much less likely to work in the medical field (less than 66 per cent).
As a whole, only 55 per cent of those internationally educated work as doctors, with 33 per cent of the immigrating trained physicians moving on to work in fields completely unrelated to medicine or health care, reports the study.
The odds of an immigrant being able to work in their profession were also tied to how long they had been in the country, the study found for both doctors and engineers. Doctors and engineers who arrived in Canada before 1980 were the most likely to be working in their fields (at 95 per cent and 47 per cent). The more recently the immigrants came to Canada, the less likely they will be working in their fields.
The study found the ability of foreign-trained engineers to do their job in the country was tied to whether their degree was from a program Canada sees as valid.
The Engineers Canada, formerly the Canadian Council of Professional Engineers has a number of accredited engineering programs that it recognizes, including several degrees from UK, France, Australia, New Zealand and Hong Kong. Those who graduate from these programs have little difficult in making the transition to working in Canada. Engineers from South Asia, the Caribbean or Latin America had a far better chance of getting work than those form South East Asia.
