Experts warn of taking ‘survival jobs’ as new immigrants face high unemployment
Sultan Aitekenov knew it would be tough to find a job in Canada – just not this tough.
Mr. Aitekenov immigrated to this country in 2023 through a federal skilled-worker program, settling with his wife, Makhabbat, in Edmonton. But their arrival has coincided with a difficult labour market for immigrants, and he’s struggled to find work in his field of data analytics, despite years of experience in his native Kazakhstan. Worse yet, he can’t find work outside of his area of expertise, either.
“I expected that I would face challenges, but I didn’t expect it would be this hard to find a job – even the so-called survival jobs,” said the 33-year-old Mr. Aitekenov, referring to lower-level employment.
Canada’s labour market has slowed considerably over the past two years, and the effects have been especially severe for newcomers. The unemployment rate for recent immigrants – those who became permanent residents within the previous five years – has risen to 9.2 per cent as of November, up 1.2 percentage points from a year earlier. In contrast, the unemployment rate for Canadian-born workers is 4.1 per cent, with a smaller increase of 0.5 percentage points.
To make ends meet, newcomers will often settle for positions that don’t match their education, training and skills. But research shows that these survival jobs – as they’re known in immigrant communities – can devalue résumés and trap workers in a cycle of overqualification.
More than 35 per cent of recent immigrants with postsecondary education reported little to no relevance between their jobs and their education or training, according to new labour-market indicators on skill matching from the September labour force survey (LFS). The figure is 28 per cent for Canadian-born workers.
When asked why they didn’t work in their field of study, workers born in Canada (57 per cent) were much more likely than their recent immigrant counterparts (21 per cent) to report that it was their choice to work in an alternative job.
“That initial period of time when you first arrive in Canada, we know it’s really crucial,” said Rupa Banerjee, Canada Research Chair and associate professor of human resource management and organizational behaviour at Toronto Metropolitan University. “The first 10 years really set you up for whether you’re going to be successful, going forward.”
Labour-market outcomes for newcomers have improved since the mid-2010s, with narrowing gaps in employment and earnings between recent immigrants and Canadian-born workers. This progress is partly because a higher proportion of economic immigrants with prior work experience in Canada, which is emphasized in the Express Entry system for skilled immigration.
Nevertheless, entering the labour market during an economic downturn can set one back, particularly for new immigrants.
A report by Statistics Canada analysts Feng Hou and Garnett Picot found that immigrants who arrived during the 1990s recession had median earnings at least seven per cent lower, 20 years later, than those who immigrated a few years earlier, before the recession hit.
The cohort that arrived during the 2008-09 recession, however, did not face such lasting effects, likely owing to the recession’s relatively mild impact on Canada and the growing number of economic immigrants with prior Canadian work experience, which helped validate their skills.
Lately, the pace of hiring has been quite weak. The number of job vacancies has plummeted over the past two years, and there were 2.8 unemployed people for every open position in October – the most since 2017, not including the pandemic. As of November, 24 per cent of unemployed workers aged 25 to 54 have been jobless for 27 weeks or more, an increase of seven percentage points from a year earlier.
“It’s not that the risk of losing your job is increasing. It’s that there are fewer new jobs being created, which means it’s harder for those newcomers, the people that were entering the market for the first time, or maybe re-entering the market, to find a job,” said Mikal Skuterud, a professor of economics at the University of Waterloo.
Experts warn that survival jobs can function more like a trap than a bridge for desperate new immigrants. A report co-authored by Prof. Banerjee found that periods of joblessness are associated with fewer long-term wage disadvantages compared with part-time work or occupational mismatch, which can lead to lasting wage penalties. The data set, however, couldn’t distinguish between voluntary and involuntary part-time work.
Prof. Banerjee acknowledged the necessity for many people to earn an income. However, she suggested that, if possible, new immigrants should consider training programs, bridging programs or internships that allow them to work at their skill level or within their industry, rather than take survival jobs.
“Even if [you] have a gap on your résumé, employers tend to be more understanding of a gap on a newcomer’s résumé than survival jobs,” she said.
Upon arriving in Canada, Mr. Aitekenov immediately began applying for jobs. Within two weeks, he expanded his search beyond data-analyst and data-scientist roles to include positions such as research analyst and database administrator. Later, he started applying for survival jobs, such as cashier at Walmart and sales representative at Telus, even though these roles would underuse his skills.
Mr. Aitekenov felt overqualified for these survival positions, so he simplified his résumé by keeping only the skill-based experience that highlighted his communication and problem-solving abilities.
It’s a familiar feeling for many newcomers. The September LFS showed that three in 10 recent immigrants aged 25 to 54 with a postsecondary degree or diploma felt overqualified for their jobs. This proportion was higher than that of workers born in Canada (20 per cent) and more established immigrants (23 per cent).
Several settlement and integration services that Mr. Aitekenov approached weren’t particularly helpful, either; the advice he received was often basic or unrelated to his field. He followed the suggestion to simplify the design of his résumé, but other advice, such as omitting his alma mater’s top-100 global ranking from his résumé, left him scratching his head.
A transformative experience for Mr. Aitekenov was a 15-week data-analytics program at NPower Canada, a charity offering free digital and professional skills training to underserved groups, including newcomers. At NPower, Mr. Aitekenov expanded his network and earned IBM and Microsoft certifications, boosting his credentials. On Wednesdays, he attended career meetings with instructors to discuss job search tips and strategies.
Mr. Aitekenov and his wife are living off savings and her contract work as a communications specialist. The Leisure Access Program, run by the City of Edmonton and offering free gym access, helps the couple reduce expenses while maintaining their well-being.
Despite a challenging year, Mr. Aitekenov remains optimistic. He has stopped looking for survival jobs and is taking an upskilling program at NorQuest College that includes a one-month internship.
“I am not applying for survival jobs; I keep applying for data-analyst positions. I came to Canada not to work as a cashier. I came for a better life.”
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This article was first reported by The Globe and Mail
