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Canada’s colour-coded labour market

March 24, 2011

In recognition of the “Week of Solidarity with the Peoples Struggling against Racism and Racial Discrimination”, the Workers of Colour call attention to a report co-produced by the Wellesley Institute and the Canadian Center for Policy Alternatives  that finds a colour-code is clearly still at work in Canada’s Labour Market. The study looks at 2006 census data to describe the labour market experiences of racialized Canadians. In addition, the forum held yesterday to discuss the racialized job market, also proposed some strategies to address gross disparities income, employment and other factors.

Among the core findings of the study:

• Even though racialized Canadians are more willing to work than their counterparts (67.3% of racialized Canadians are in the workforce as compared to 66.7% of non-racialized Canadians)—they face greater unemployment.

• All racialized communities have higher unemployment rates than non-racialized communities. The unemployment rate for racialized workers who identify as black is 73% higher than non-racialized Canadians; and for Chinese Canadians, the unemployment rate was 21% higher than their non-racialized counterparts.

• Both racialized men and women are over-represented in a range of traditionally low-paying, insecure and precarious businesses ranging from call centres to security services to janitorial services. As a point of interest, racialized workers are also vastly underrepresented in public administration and policy-making positions which suggests the need to review the effectiveness of hiring programs within the public sector.

• There is a significant racialized income gap—racialized Canadians earn 81.4 cents for every dollar paid to non-racialized Canadians. This gap is even further exacerbated when both gender and “race” are taken into account. Racialized women earn 55.6 cents for every dollar non-racialized men earned in 2005; and 88.2 cents for every dollar non-racialized women earned.

• Differences in employment income could not be attributed to differences in educational attainment, immigration factors, or factors other than “race.” Racialized workers are generally more educated than their non-racialized counter-parts, yet still face higher unemployment and income levels. In addition, second-generation immigrants still face a high earnings gap when compared to non-racialized workers.

• Barriers to good jobs and the racialized income gap have a profound impact on poverty rates and the health and well-being of racialized communities. Poverty rates for racialized families are three times higher than non-racialized families (6.4. % of non-racialized families lived in poverty in 2005 as compared to 19.8% of racialized families who lived in poverty in the same year).

• There are stark disparities in the health outcomes for racialized and impoverished families.  Life expectancy rates between the poorest 10% of Canadians and the richest 10% of Canadians is 7.4 years for men and 4.5 years for women. Recent systemic reviews have found that precarious work and job strain have a negative impact on health; and that immigrant workers are more likely to be at risk for occupational injury, disease and death.

A forum held yesterday to discuss the outcome of the report made the following recommendations:

• Racialized and immigrant communities should not be left to address the disparities within the labour market, rather these should be addressed through a multi-sectoral coalition that includes government, labour, and community groups. This response should also involve organizations like the Workers Action Center and other similar organizations that already work with racialized and immigrant communities;

• Organizations should commit to policy development that focuses on eliminating inequitable barriers; and to examining specific policy issues, such as racial inequities in professions and trades;

• Robust and effective employment equity legislation should be enacted across sectors;

• Legislation such as the Employment Standards Act and the Labour Relations Act should be amended to take into account the increasing disadvantage faced by racialized and immigrant workers;

• There should a wide-spread campaign to create well-paying jobs that focuses on increasing opportunities for racialized and immigrant workers; and re-examination of standard employment contracts to take into account the segregation of the labour market.