*2.2. Employer-Level Factors*

There are many likely reasons why skilled immigrants' labour market outcomes differ from Canadian-born people. Employers, particularly those with latent prejudices about

foreign credentials, training, or experiences, practice discrimination and devalue skilled immigrants' foreign skills. Studies show that immigrants face barriers to entering the job market despite having foreign credentials and work experience, due to a lack of Canadian work experience and references [8,10,11,38,40,49,50]. Research on the experiences of skilled immigrants' labour market discrimination has examined discrimination based on the devaluation of foreign credentials, work experiences, and training [51]. Research also shows that employers exploit skilled immigrants by seeking Canadian experience and Canadian references, and thereby obtain from immigrants free and low-wage labour [4]. Immigrants are victims of local institutions that do not accept foreign degrees and experiences due to prejudice and racism [52–54]. According to Desjardins and Cornelson [55], it is noticeable that compared to their Canadian counterparts, skilled immigrants have a higher unemployment rate and receive lower wages, which accounts for their lower job market integration in Canada. Therefore, discounting foreign skills due to prejudice against foreign experience impedes skilled immigrants' socio-economic integration [56].

Anti-immigrant biases also hinder immigrants' success in the Canadian labour force and discriminate against their entry into the workforce. A study describes that when immigrants' skills become a threat to local applicants, they face anti-immigrant biases [51]. Anti-immigrant biases also happen due to inter-sectional identities, including the sociodemographic statuses of the under-represented groups [57]. The evidence thus suggests that employers are not accepting the overseas expertise and credentials of skilled immigrants in cases where those credentials were used to get the immigrants into the economic immigration category. That is, skilled immigrants are being negatively impacted by openly practiced racist and exclusionary principles in the employment recruiting process, even though they immigrated to Canada with the hope of living a better life. As Canada needs more skilled immigrants, not only government initiatives but also individual- and community-level anti-racist initiatives are needed to attract more skilled people and for the social integration of skilled immigrants in Canada.
