The rags-to-riches immigrant stories Canada has been bred on don’t work anymore, say the two professors who led the project that will be released today, wrote the Toronto Star June 18.

Luin Goldring, sociology professor in York University’s Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies, and Patricia Landolt of the Centre for Urban and Community Studies at the University of Toronto, were the lead researchers on the "Immigration and Precarious Employment" project, which over three years interviewed 300 Latin American and English-speaking Caribbean immigrants in Greater Toronto with a variety of incomes and backgrounds.

Among the major findings:

• Despite an immigration policy designed to lure “the best and the brightest,” education had no impact on whether immigrants ended up in a precarious job. The only thing that made a difference was the ability to speak English.
• Their first job in Canada had a big influence on the rest of their work lives: Those who started with precarious jobs were more likely to stay in them. Bad advice was a prime factor in ending up in precarious work.
• On-the-job training helps improve immigrants’ working lives, but government education and training strategies don’t have much impact.

Republished courtesy of YFile – York University’s daily e-bulletin.