Immigrants Overqualified in Low-Skill Jobs

0:00New Statistics Canada data drops a truth bomb, recent immigrants are way more likely to be stuck in jobs below their skill level than folks born here. For newcomers aged 25 to 54, with post-secondary education, 32% say they're overqualified compared to just 19. Percent of Canadian born workers. That's from Labor Force survey numbers in September 2024 and 2025. Even with the same education, the mismatch hits hard. 33% of immigrants with advanced degrees feel overqualified versus 20% of locals. But there's some good news in another study. 42% of recent arrivals from 2019 to 2024 landed a job or started a business within three months, up from 31% in older groups. Experts like those at Toronto Metropolitan University point out a huge gap between Canada's goal to attract top talent and the reality on the ground. Discrimination, unrecognized credentials, and no local experience keep skilled newcomers in survival gigs, costing the economy $50 billion.

1:09In lost GDP, yearly despite labor shortages. Newcomers with degrees from OECD countries, like the US or Germany, face less diskilling. Only 14% end up in low-skilled jobs versus 27% from elsewhere. Still, 31% struggle with that first job due to missing networks or credential hurdles. As Ottawa cuts immigration levels to focus on the highly skilled, fixing this underuse of talent is key. Otherwise, educated immigrants keep bouncing, to better spots abroad, and Canada loses out big time. This has been Canada News Today, powered by AI. I'm Corey with the story.