Does Bilingualism Mean Greater Employability?

 Table 9

Mother tongue, Knowledge of official languages with University certificate, diploma or degree and Unemployment rate 35 to 44 years
New Brunswick	Total - Mother tongue	English	French	Non-official language
Total - Knowledge of official languages	2.4	2.5	2.0	4.0
English only	2.2	2.1	-	3.2
French only	0.0	-	1.5	-
English and French	2.7	3.5	2.1	4.7
Neither English nor French	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0

 Source: Statistics Canada, census of Canada, 2006

In Toronto bilingualism amongst anglophones does not result differential rates of unemployment. Allophones who speak French only have disproportionately high rates of unemployment.

Language, Education and Unemployment

Rate of Unemployment by mother tongue in Montreal aged 35-44 by level of education, 2006

Beyond high school employment rates amongst persons reporting knowledge of English only drop but vary little thereafter. Amongst those speaking French only persons with university degrees have higher rates of unemployment than high school graduates and persons with apprenticeship or college degrees. In the case of bilingual Montrealers higher education does result in lower rates of unemployment.

Rate of Unemployment by knowledge of official languages in Montreal aged 35-44 by level of education, 2006

Part 2
Immigration and Unemployment in Canada, Provinces and Cities

Jack Jedwab

Association for Canadian Studies

April 2008

Between 2001 and 2006 it is observed that the overall unemployment rate for anglophones, francophones and allophones age 35-44 (education levels are not controlled below) in Montreal dropped slightly in light of the improved economic situation. As observed below each group and sub-group benefited with the exception of those allophones that report knowledge of French only (it is worth noting that the rate of unemployment for allophones reporting knowledge of French and English remained virtually unchanged). Below we focus on the same age group but do not control for the level of education. As mentioned above it is safe to conclude that much of the gap in employment between allophones and “non-allophones” is attributable to immigrant status and length of time in Canada (some describe these characteristics as “Canadian experience”). 

Table 1

Montreal Unemployment rate 35 to 44 years
		Total - Mother tongue	English	French	Non-official language
Total - Knowledge of official languages	2006	6.2	5.9	4.1	11.2
	2001	6.6	7.0	5.0	12.0
English Only	2006	11.1	8.3	-	12.5
	2001	14.1	11.1	-	16.5
French Only	2006	6.7	-	4.5	18.6
	2001	7.8	-	6.4	18.1
English and French	2006	5.3	5.4	3.8	8.6
	2001	5.3	5.8	4.2	8.7

Source: Statistics Canada, census of Canada, 2006

Between 2001 and 2006 unemployment rates came down across the country despite relatively important levels of immigration to Canada thus making it difficult to argue that newcomers fuel unemployment. That does not mean however that non-immigrants and immigrants benefited to relatively similar degrees from the economic upswing.

In 2006 the unemployment rate for
As observed below when comparing the provinces (and controlling for age) it is Quebec with the biggest gap between immigrant and non-immigrant and in the 2001-2006 cohort the difference with the total immigrant group is especially pronounced.
Table 2

Unemployment rate-35 to 44 years 2006	Total - Immigrant status and period of immigration	Non-immigrants	Immigrants	Before 1991	1991 to 1995	1996 to 2000	2001 to 2006
Canada	5,2	4,8	6,4	4,4	5,5	6,7	11,6
Quebec	6,0	5,0	11,7	6,8	9,4	10,7	21,1
Ontario	4,7	4,0	6,0	4,3	5,4	6,5	10,1
British Columbia	4,8	4,5	5,5	4,1	4,2	5,5	9,9
New Brunswick	8,3	8,3	6,7	6,2	4,9	6,1	9,6
Nova Scotia	7,3	7,3	6,6	5,3	7,7	7,0	9,4
Newfoundland and Labrador	15,6	15,7	7,8	11,8	0,0	4,2	8,8
Manitoba	4,2	4,2	3,9	3,0	2,8	2,4	7,5
Alberta	3,2	3,1	3,8	2,6	2,9	3,9	6,8
Saskatchewan	4,3	4,4	3,8	3,2	3,4	3,2	6,2