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Introduction
Unemployment rates have remained relatively constant in Canada over the past 10 years, at around 12 percent, besides overall unemployment that hitting Canada as a consequence of the 2008 financial crisis ("Participation rates and unemployment rates by age and sex: Canada," 2018).

By: Jeanette Foster, Fitore Kluna, Laena Bahia

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What is the Problem? What needs to be fixed/Improved? Why is this important?

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What is the Problem? What needs to be fixed/Improved? Why is this important?

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Most Canadian employers prefer working with professionals who have acquired the expertise from Canada (Canada, 2004). They only want skills from Canada or very similar to theirs. The only exclusion is for medical doctors from the United States or the United Kingdom while the other skilled immigrants are left to get survival jobs which are also hard to get.  The immigrants are required to have Canadian experience which they do not have since no employer is willing to give them the chance. Language barrier also contributes heavily to the unemployment as most immigrants are natives of other countries hence poor communication ("Participation rates and unemployment rates by age and sex: Canada," 2018). Issues that need to be addressed in promoting employment of immigrants include: changing the employer’s mindsets on foreign qualifications as well as coming up with systems that can incorporate foreign skills in the professional fields. Employment of the skilled immigrants in Canada is very essential as it will help increase labor reducing the demand, boost population as well as promoting Canadian economy.

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Did your group identify any potential weaknesses in the innovations?

The main weakness is that these innovations are expensive hence the government may not put them into consideration for long. If they pass through, they might also face the probability of collapsing if not well handled ("Participation rates and unemployment rates by age and sex: Canada," 2018).

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What have been the outcomes of the innovations?

With the pre-arrival trainings, the immigrants’ expectations and reality are well aligned while the review of their qualifications helps the immigrants to be properly placed in their lines of skill. This way, the skilled immigrants are becoming less underemployed and getting a job becomes easier. Research has also shown that the population increase due to the immigrants has made the Canadian economy better. Socially, the Canadians do not face unemployment due to immigrants, but the increase of labor market has been experienced.

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Some of the improvements that can be made, through pricey, include:

•          Allow the Canadian embassies and consulates to scrutinize the qualifications of the immigrants. This aids in ensuring that the Canadian employers get well skilled employees who are fully qualified for the jobs.

•          Come up with a system where Canadian employer are linked to trusted native speakers in order to help the employers to contact the immigrants’ former employers in their own countries. It will promote professionalism and ensure no fraud during employment.

•          Provide tests and supplementary training courses for immigrants that will enhance their professionalism in Canada and also enable the immigrants get employed.

•          Come up with a ban that will ensure that in any province, no one is professionally qualified unless trained locally.

•          Place a list on online platforms that dictates the official recognition and world ranking of universities and learning institutions outside Canada for various fields. This will help set the qualifications straight and avoid overflow of unqualified immigrants into Canada.

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Reference

Valentive, C. (2017, September 29). Is it hard to find a job in Canada for a foreigner? Retrieved

from:https://www.quora.com/Is-it-hard-to-find-a-job-in-Canada-for-a-foreigner

Canada. (2004). The economy in brief: July 2004. Ottawa: Department of Finance.

Participation rates and unemployment rates by age and sex: Canada. (2018). OECD Labor Force Statistics 2017. doi:10.1787/oecd_lfs-2017-table45-en

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Are the innovations applicable in Hamilton, Ontario and/or Canada?

Most employers employed immigrants whom they feel are fully qualified for the jobs. Therefore, with these innovations, more professionalism will be seen in the immigrants ("Participation rates and unemployment rates by age and sex: Canada," 2018).

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What are the innovations that have been/are being created to deal with this issue?

In 2015, the Canadian government set aside 7 million dollars to help review the qualifications of the skilled immigrants. Additionally, pre-arrival trainings were begun to help immigrants match their skills and the jobs in Canada, as well as prepare them for life in Canada.

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·         Are the innovations applicable in Hamilton, Ontario/Canada, do we need it here? Would it work? Why or why not?

·         Which innovations does your group recommend, and why?

Canada is a country that open its door to receive people from all over the globe. Immigrants decide to come to Canada because of the high acceptance that this place offer in terms of cultural tolerance, facility to immigrate with full family, free education and medicals and many other important reasons. In addition to that, for being an economic developed country, immigrants tend to see this place as a huge opportunity to have a better life than the one they have in their homeland. However, after the immigration process these people need to adjust their life in a completely different scenario that they are used in their country.

Arriving here most of them face many barriers such of language difficulty, which is a serious issue because without the proficiency many of them do not get a job opportunity, causing a social-economic complication in their life. Another huge issue is the fact that immigrants usually do not have Canadian experience, meaning that they do not have communication skills, Canadian business practice or local references. Although, there are a few programs such as COSTI, Career Edge and Mentor City that offer great help to people who have just arrived in Canada, including evaluation of resume, teaching about workplace culture and even paid internship programs, all of these with free costs. These kinds of help make a great difference for those who are just arriving and do not have a concrete idea of what they will face in the Canadian work market. It is important and very positive that this kind of initiative already exist in Canada, because it is a country that hosts many immigrants.

These innovations are already implemented in various locations in Ontario. However, they are not present in Hamilton precisely.

To avoid unemployment, we suggest that immigrants do a lot of research about their work field and study the language hard before moving to Canada. In addition to that we suggest they make use of these tools available to help newcomers, because doing so they can have a better idea of what the rate of employment is and if it is a good time to move or not.