**1. Introduction**

Canada has attracted large numbers of skilled workers through its immigration policy to address workforce shortages due to the country's ageing population and decreasing birthrates [1]. Canada admits immigrants as skilled workers, reunited family members, protected persons such as refugees, and economic contributors [2,3]. Many highly educated and skilled immigrants migrate to Canada with permanent residency status under the Federal Skilled Workers Program [4]. According to the Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) data, the Government of Canada accepted about a million skilled workers to enter Canada between 2002 to 2014 through the Federal Skilled Workers Program [5]. The number of immigrants admitted through the skilled migration programs has been rising continuously, and in 2021, Canada admitted 139,460 skilled immigrants through these programs, comprising nearly 34% of all immigration in that year [6]. Also, by 2023-25, Canada has set a multiyear plan to recruit millions of immigrants, among which approximately 50%, 51%, and 53% will be skilled workers from the economic category in 2023, 2024, and 2025, respectively [7]. Thus, skilled immigrants from developing nations are becoming increasingly important in the Canadian labour market [8].

Notably, immigration policies in Canada consider skilled immigrants as a valuable resource for the socio-economic growth of the country [3]. However, compared to their Canadian-born counterparts, these immigrants earn less, live below the standard, and are less likely to find employment matching their skills [2,9–11]. Statistics Canada's report shows that the unemployment rate of landed immigrants is 7.9%, whereas the rate among

**Citation:** Raihan, M.M.H.; Chowdhury, N.; Turin, T.C. Low Job Market Integration of Skilled Immigrants in Canada: The Implication for Social Integration and Mental Well-Being. *Societies* **2023**, *13*, 75. https://doi.org/10.3390/ soc13030075

Academic Editor: Ranjan Datta

Received: 11 November 2022 Revised: 8 March 2023 Accepted: 16 March 2023 Published: 19 March 2023

**Copyright:** © 2023 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https:// creativecommons.org/licenses/by/ 4.0/).

Canadian-borns with similar degrees is 3.1% [12]. In 2014, the gap between the employment rate of immigrants and Canadian-borns, both with university degrees, was 11.1% [12]. In 2016, the census data showed a 16% national-level wage gap between newcomers and people born in Canada, whereas this gap was about 12.6% in the 2006 census data [13]. In addition, skilled immigrants, especially those who were in regulated fields such as healthcare or law, may need to choose alternative careers after coming to Canada to secure their livelihood [14,15]. Highly skilled immigrants with foreign university degrees frequently end up taking jobs requiring less than a university degree [16,17]. For example, many foreign-trained pharmacists work only as pharmacy assistants, and many foreign-trained nurses take jobs as healthcare aides [18,19]. Similarly, many foreign-trained physicians are pushed to take non-health career paths to support their families, thus losing their professional identity [15]. There is a lack of systematic approach and support for skilled immigrants to find employment in their area of expertise or suitable alternative careers where they can employ their skills to a certain extent [20,21]. Therefore, the individuals struggle to identify alternative jobs by themselves, have difficulty obtaining the required diploma/certifications, and struggle to convince employers of the rationale for their career switch to a position requiring a different skill set than their prior work area [21]. Thus, compared with Canadian-born counterparts, immigrants with the same qualifications suffer more to find a suitable job, making them prone to entering the workforce through undesirable jobs and leading to low economic integration [22] and underemployment [23].

These challenges that skilled immigrants encounter in Canada while attempting to integrate into the labour market lead to worse mental health outcomes. Chen et al., after analyzing a longitudinal survey of immigrants to Canada, reported that after four years of arrival over half of the immigrants with post-secondary education (58%) were underemployed, resulting in the decline of their mental health [24]. This paper aims to review the current situation of low job market integration (LJMI) of skilled immigrants. This article describes how individual-level or external factors, such as systematic barriers and racism, likely contribute to LJMI in the Canadian labour market. The conventional meaning of immigrants' integration in the host country suggests that immigrants and their ethnic group should bear the responsibility for their situation (such as integration and/or disintegration) [25]. We assume, however, that integrating into a new society is not a one-way journey where one group is responsible for their actions; rather, both groups (newcomers and host country) need to help each other and create positive outcomes for all. This article, therefore, intends to discuss the implication of job market integration on the social integration and mental well-being of high-skilled immigrants.

## **2. Reasons for Low Job Market Integration**

Despite the fact that Canada has one of the most diversified populations in the world, exclusionary practice based on racism is still present in Canada [26]. The Supreme Court of Canada (2005) also agrees that racism is an unavoidable and well-known social truth in Canada [27]. According to recent studies, there is a lot of evidence of racial inequality in daily institutional practices in Canadian society [28,29]. Research also shows that discrimination against immigrants manifests in the screening stage where an employer's call for an interview depends on the racial identity of the immigrant [30]. Although officially Canadian policy supports the deracialization of immigrants, in practice, a complete deracialization is not seen [27]. Therefore, due to discrimination and racial practices among many employers, skilled immigrants encounter obstacles in obtaining desired jobs in Canada.

Canada admits skilled immigrants based on higher educational qualifications and experiences in related fields; however, after arrival, skilled immigrants face difficulties in the settlement-to-integration process in the host country [8,31–33]. Research shows that immigrants face barriers when entering the Canadian labour market [34–36]. Many factors are responsible for the extent to which skilled immigrants integrate into the Canadian job market. Some factors are related to individuals' socio-demographic characteristics, including age, sex, education, and skills [37]. In contrast, other factors are related to

the system and preferences encountered in the host country, such as racism, colonial integration policies, and/or systematic discrimination [37]. According to Weiner, the devaluation of foreign degrees and work experience, a lack of communication skills, implicit discrimination, and a lack of work experience in Canada are among the significant reasons that prevent skilled immigrants from entering the labour market or from getting a desired job [38]. In the following section, we will describe the various reasons under the four broad categories that impede skilled immigrants' entry into the Canadian labour market. A comprehensive list of factors that might help evaluate a newcomer's low level of job market integration and mental well-being are presented in Figure 1.



**Figure 1.** Low level of job market integration (LJMI); lower levels of social integration and mental well-being.
