Immigrants from Africa, Asia Crucial to Canada’s Healthcare System
August 3, 2021
Canada immigration news: A Statistics Canada report reveals immigrants to Canada are over-represented in nursing and healthcare support positions.
“In 2015/2016, they made up 22 per cent of the workforce in these occupations, compared with 16 per cent of the total employed population,” notes the report.
Immigrants from countries with predominantly-Black populations are among those newcomers most likely to enter into the Canadian workforce as nurses or other healthcare support workers. Asian immigrants were a close second.
“Overall, five per cent of employed adult immigrants in 2015/2016 worked in nursing or healthcare support occupations, compared with three per cent of other employed individuals,” notes the report.
“However, this proportion varied by place of birth. The percentage of adult immigrants in nursing or healthcare support occupations was particularly high among immigrants born in the Caribbean and Bermuda (13 per cent), Western Africa (12 per cent), Central Africa (12 per cent), Eastern Africa (eight per cent), and Southeast Asia (10 per cent).”
Caribbean, Bermuda, Africa Important Sources of Healthcare Workers
Immigrants from predominantly-Black countries working as nurses or healthcare support staff in Canada were also the newcomers in those occupational groups most likely to have completed their highest post-secondary education in Canada.
“A large proportion of immigrants from the Caribbean and Bermuda (75 per cent) and sub-Saharan Africa (60 per cent) completed their highest level of education in Canada, while a minority of immigrants born in the Philippines (25 per cent) and Southern Asia (32 per cent) had done so,” notes the report.
Source: CIC News
