By Anna Mehler Paperny, Global News | Link to Article
Tim Iqbal’s first job in Canada was shovelling snow.
By Anna Mehler Paperny, Global News | Link to Article
Tim Iqbal’s first job in Canada was shovelling snow.
The computer science graduate and his wife, a teacher, had just arrived from Pakistan and needed to pay the bills while they got their skills Canadian certification. So when the temp agency called, he jumped at the chance.
He was decked out in dress pants and fancy shoes, but took off his tie before starting to shovel.
That was eight years ago. A few months after his arrival in Canada in 2006, Iqbal got his first job in IT. Now, he runs his own company – two, actually: solar and IT development and consulting – and mentors new Canadians who find themselves in the same position he and his wife were in.
Except today, the prospects for Canada’s most highly educated new Canadians is far more dismal.
Unemployment levels for recent immigrants with university degrees hit their highest point since June, 2010 last month.
According to data Statistics Canada crunched for Global News, 14 per cent of university-educated immigrants who’ve come to Canada in the last five years are without a job – more than their counterparts with a post-secondary certificate or high-school diploma.