Employer Attitudes and the Hiring of Immigrants and International Students: Evidence from a Survey of Employers in Atlantic Canada

Abstract

What are employers’ perceptions regarding hiring immigrants and international students in Atlantic Canada? How are these perceptions related to hiring outcomes? Our analysis, based on a 2019 random representative survey of 801 employers, finds that most report positive attitudes toward immigrants and international students. Probit analysis of the sample of employers who report receiving applications from immigrants and international students also finds that hiring from this group is positively associated with employers’ belief that multiculturalism enhances creativity in the workplace and (less clearly) with the belief that immigrants and international students are harder working than native-born local workers; negatively with beliefs that such workers accept lower pay, have language barriers, have higher training costs, hold unreliable credentials, and (less strongly) have lower retention probabilities; and not consistently with the belief that such workers may help in increasing exports, are unfamiliar with Canadian culture or workplace, or may take jobs away from locals.

Skills Recognition for Immigrant Workforce Integration: Employer Centered Practices in Canada

“…In a recent 2021 study of "employer attitudes towards hiring newcomers & international students in the Atlantic provinces (Fang, et al, 2021)" there were some interesting findings such as:…”

Macroeconomic Impacts of Immigration in the Canadian Atlantic Region: An Empirical Analysis Using the Focus Model

“…The potential for immigration to enhance the economic performance of Atlantic Canada is reinforced by the fact that immigrants have higher labour force participation rates, lower unemployment rates, and earn higher labour incomes than nonimmigrants (Akbari 2011). Survey evidence also indicates that 88 percent of employers in the Atlantic provinces who hired immigrants have a favorable impression of them, and the low cost of living should attract immigrants (Fang, Zhu and Wells 2021;Fang, Na, Zhu, and Hartley 2022). Immigration is also regarded as a means of spreading the immigration throughout the country that is otherwise concentrated in immigrant enclaves in large cities like Toronto, Vancouver and Montreal that are already congested and with high costs of living especially with respect to housing (Haan and Prokopenk 2016).…”