Why do immigrants experience challenges in modern world of work?
A number of factors have led to immigrants’ deteriorating labor market outcomes. Some academics point to the highly debated North American phenomenon of a general decrease in the quality of immigrants’ human capital [Borjas, 2001]. Others show evidence of a diminished labor market value with regard to immigrants’ education and experience obtained outside of Canada [Worshwick, 2004]. Daniel Hiebert provides a four ‘whys’ framework explaining the ‘economic fortunes’ of recently arrived immigrants [Hiebert, 2006a]: only a small percentage of immigrants who are assessed based on their human capital are admitted through point system (roughly, less than 25% of all immigrants coming to Canada annually are principal applicants in economic class); Canadian born workers are better educated than they used to be, so immigrants face more competition in the labor market compared to earlier arrivals; the Canadian economy shifted to the knowledge-based (service sector) direction and educational expect
