OVERQUALIFICATION AMONG SALARIED
WORKERS OF IMMIGRANT ORIGIN IN
MONTREAL, TORONTO AND VANCOUVER:
A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS
1
Jacques LEDENT
Institut national de la recherche scientifique
Centre Urbanisation, Culture et Société
Prepared for presentation in the Speakers Series of the Social
Statistics Program, McGill University, November 23, 2011
Background




Immigration represents an increasing proportion of
the Canadian labour force, especially in the three
metropolises (Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver)
… and it is more and more diversified in terms of
•
geographical origin
•
ethnic origin / visible minority
•
language etc…
The economic integration of the recent immigrants
is more difficult

Lower activity

Higher unemployment

Lower income
… and more segmented owing to greater
difficulties encountered by some groups (such as
Arabic vismin, women coming from Africa etc…)
2
Motivation for comparing overqualification
in Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver



But the immigrant population is highly educated, especially
the more recent cohorts, and thus it is more prone to
overqualification than the non-immigrant population
Starting point : Statistical analysis carried out for EmploiQuébec (with Alain Bélanger and Guillaume Marois) on the
influence of birthplace and vismin membership on
overqualification of salaried workers residing on the Island
of Montreal
This analysis = offshoot of the above that was carried out in
the context of a summer internship awarded to AlinaNicoleta Dinescu, a master’s student in demography at the
Université de Strasbourg



Analysis more meaningful if for a true labour market => CMA level
Increasing interest of the Metropolis Project for the pan-canadian
dimension => MTV focus
Employed rather than active salaried workers (to be able to
distinguish full/part-time workers)
3
OVERQUALIFICATION:
GENERAL REMARKS
4
Literature review (1)

Initial impetus : Freeman (1976)



Measurement is a major problem. Three
approaches:




Theoretical model : a qualified workforce larger than is necessary will
settle for less => Returns to education should plummet => Reduced
investment in education => Return to equilibrium
But an increase in the demand for jobs with high skills has led to an even
larger increase in educational level of workers. Hence, overqualification is
a persistent issue
Skills requirements determined by analyst (like in this
presentation)
Worker’s self assessment
Comparison with a predefined educational distribution by
occupation
Most of the literature is on prevalence and
determinants of the phenomenon and its impact
on wages
5
Literature review (2)
Burgeoning literature on factors of overqualification in
a high immigration context
 Focus on ethnic differences



US : Duncan / Hoffman (1991)
UK : Sloan / Battu (2004)
Focus on differences according birthplace/period of
immigration
Australia: Kler (2006)
Canada: Galarneau / Morissette (2004, 2008)
Quebec: Renaud / Cayn (2008), Bégin (2009) – See also
Girard / Smith / Renaud (2008)
 OECD (2007) where main factors are






Immigrant status
Socio-demographic factors (gender, age)
Human capital characteristics (origin of diploma, literacy
proficiency, mother tongue)
6
Overqualification: Definition

Overqualified worker = worker having a job that is not
commensurate with his/her skills
Level of education of the worker > Level of skills required by the job
Skills level
Education level
D
C
B
A
D
C
B
A
Overqualified workers
7
Jobs’ skills levels
5 levels defined by Human Resources and Skills
Development Canada from the 2006 National
Occupation Classification





Level D: Requires on-the-job training
Level C: Usually requires secondary school and/or occupationspecific training
Level B: Usually requires college education or apprenticeship
training
Level A: Usually requires university education
Level 0: Management occupations
8
Workers’ education level
4 levels defined in agreement with EmploiQuébec on the basis of the highest certificate,
degree or diploma (hcdd) completed:
Level D: None
 Level C: High school diploma or equivalent
 Level B: Trade cdd; college, CEGEP and other non-university
ccd; university cdd less than a baccalaureate
 Level A: University cdd at least equal to a baccalaureate

9
Overqualification:
Measure for the Montreal CMA
Skills level
Education
level
D
C
B
A

D
C
B
A
0
59855
84590
41651
2001
8318
196415
64065
163416
89884
14727
27496
359588
56491
220353
258731
71934
51098
658607
9837
58635
67550
210126
62828
408976
190248
526994
457815
298788
149740
1623585
Raw index = 100 * (# of workers in green cells) / Total # of workers = 29.4%
But D-level workers cannot be overqualified =>

Corrected index = 100 * (# of workers in green cells) / Total # of workers in last three
rows = 33.4 %
10
Note : No standardised skills and jobs levels => Comparison impossible between studies
Overqualification index:
Salaried workers, Montreal CMA, 2006
50
46
45
41.2
40
35
33.4
31.4
31.3
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
Canada
All
Outside Canada
Birthplace
No
Yes
Vismin membership
11
Overqualification index
Variable
All
Value
Montreal
33.4
Toronto
34.4
Vancouver
34.4
12
Overqualification index
Variable
Value
All
Birthplace
Montreal
Toronto
Vancouver
33.4
34.4
34.4
Canada
31.4
27.6
29.0
Outside
Canada
41.2
40.9
41.9
13
Birthplace appears to influence overqualification a bit
less than membership in a visible minority group
Overqualification index according to birthplace or vismin membership
Variable
Value
All
Birthplace
Vismin
membership
Montreal
Toronto
Vancouver
33.4
34.4
34.4
Canada
31.4
27.6
29.0
Outside
Canada
41.2
40.9
41.9
No
31.3
28.0
28.5
Yes
46.0
43.5
44.1
14
THE STATISTICAL ANALYSIS
15
Objectives and research questions

Q1 : What are the net effects of
Being born outside (rather than in) Canada
 Belonging (rather than not belonging) to a visible minority


after controlling for differences in other individual
characteristics? How do these net effects compare
between Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver?
Q2 : What are the main risk factors of overqualification for
salaried workers with an immigrant origin? How do they
compare with the corresponding factors for the remaining
salaried workers? What are the similarities and differences
in those factors between Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver ?
16
Practical considerations
Recourse to the 2006 census microdata (20%
sample) accessible at QICSS
 Utilization of a logistic regression model where

Being overqualified or not = f (birthplace, visible
minority membership, other individual characteristics)
17
Other individual characteristics
•
Socio-demographic characteristics



•
Gender
Age
Family status
Human capital characteristics




Highest certificate, degree or diploma completed
Place of study
Number of hours worked per week
Proficiency in the official languages
18
Note regarding interpretation of the results



For each risk factor, the parameter corresponding to a
given category is an odds ratio (OR) which expresses
the relative change in the propensity to be
overqualified if one belongs to that category rather
than to a fixed category considered as the reference
category, everything else being equal
Example : Influence of the genre : If OR = 1.20 for
women (versus 1 for men)
=> Women are 20% more often overqualified than
men, all other characteristics being the same
Significance levels : *** 0.0001 ; ** 0.01 ; * 0.1
19
RESEARCH QUESTION 1 :
Influence of birthplace and visible minority status
20
Equation
1
Variables / values
Birthplace(Canada)
Outside Canada
Montreal
Toronto
Vancouver
1.53 ***
1.81***
1.76***
21
Equation
Variables / values
Montreal
Toronto
Vancouver
1
Birthplace(Canada)
Outside Canada
1.53 ***
1.81***
1.76***
2
Vismin membership (No)
Yes
1.87***
1.99***
1.98***
22
Equation
Variables / values
Montreal
Toronto
Vancouver
1
Birthplace(Canada)
Outside Canada
1.53 ***
1.81***
1.76***
2
Vismin membership (No)
Yes
1.87***
1.99***
1.98***
3
Birthplace(Canada)
Outside Canada
1.16***
1.34***
1.29***
Vismin membership (No)
Yes
1.67***
1.67***
1.69***
23
In the end, only vismin membership really counts, for
birthplace outside Canada has little influence
Equation
Variables / values
Montreal
Toronto
Vancouver
1
Birthplace(Canada)
Outside Canada
1.53 ***
1.81***
1.76***
2
Vismin membership (No)
Yes
1.87***
1.99***
1.98***
3
Birthplace(Canada)
Outside Canada
1.16***
1.34***
1.29***
Vismin membership (No)
Yes
1.67***
1.67***
1.69***
1.01ns
1.06***
0.96*
1.29***
1.32***
1.22***
4 (w. control
variables)
Birthplace(Canada)
Outside Canada
Vismin membership (No)
Yes
24
However, recent immigrant workers are more often
overqualified than workers belonging to the 3rd
generation, but less so in Vancouver …..
Influence of the status/period of immigration
1.6
Gen 2/ 1 parent born
outside Canada
Gen 2 / 2 parents born
outside Canada
immigrated before1971
1.5
1.4
1.3
Immigrated in 1971-1980
1.2
Immigrated in1981-1990
1.1
Immigrated in 1991-1995
1
Immigrated in 1996-2000
0.9
Immigrated in 2001-2006
0.8
Non permanent resident
0.7
0.6
Montreal
Toronto
Vancouver
Ref. cat: Gen 3+
On the contrary, immigrant workers who immigrated before 1981 are less often
overqualified than workers belonging to the 3rd generation
25
3 vismin groups (Filipinos, Blacks and Latino-Americans) are much more
overqualified in the 3 metropolises, 2 other groups (South Asians and
Southeast Asians) are more overqualified in Toronto and Vancouver and a
last group is slightly more overqualified in Toronto (Arabs)
Influence of the visible minority group
Chinese
2.2
South Asian
2.0
Black
1.8
Filipino
1.6
Latin American
Southeast Asian
1.4
Arabic
1.2
West Asian
1.0
Other
0.8
Montreal
Toronto
Vancouver
Ref. cat.: White
- Blacks and especially Filipinos (who include many educated women accepted as NPRs
in CIC’s Living-in caretaker program) are somewhat more overqualified than Whites
- On the contrary, Chinese and West Asians are less overqualified than Whites
26
A birthplace outside Canada reinforces the vismin effect
Born outside
Canada
Vismin
membership
Born outside
Canada and
vismin
membership
Net effects with interaction
between birthplace and vismin
Vancouver
Toronto
Montreal
Vancouver
Toronto
Montreal
Vancouver
Toronto
Montreal
0
0.2
0.4
0.6
0.8
1
1.2
1.4
1.6
27
RESEARCH QUESTION 2
The risk factors of overqualification
in the target and comparison groups
28
Schematic representation of the population
of immigrant origin
Vismin membership
Birthplace
No
Yes
Canada
Outside Canada
Population of immigrant origin (target group)
Remaining population (comparison group)
29
Being a female, being young or not having a spouse
results in more overqualification
Montreal CMA
Socio-demographic
characteristics
Both
groups
Gender (Males)
- Females
1.15***
Age (25-44 yrs)
- 15-24 yrs
- 45 yrs and over
1.68***
1.01ns
Family status (Spouse)
- Not in economic family
- Lone parent
- Child / Grandchild
1.40***
1.20**
1.91***
Target
group
Comparison
group
30
The influence of socio-demographic factors appears to be similar
in both groups with one exception (child)
Montreal CMA
Socio-demographic
characteristics
Both
groups
Target
group
Comparison
group
Gender (Males)
- Females
1.15***
1.24***
1.13***
Age (25-44 yrs)
- 15-24 yrs
- 45 yrs and over
1.68***
1.01ns
1.80***
1.02ns
1.63***
1.01ns
Family status (Spouse)
- Not in economic family
- Lone parent
- Child / Grandchild
1.40***
1.20**
1.91***
1.32***
1.11**
1.58***
1.43***
1.23***
2.02***
31
The influence of socio-demographic factors appears to be
similar across cities with one exception (45 yrs and over)
Target group
Socio-demographic
characteristics
Montreal
Toronto
Vancouver
Gender (Males)
- Females
1.24***
1.40***
1.49***
Age (25-44 yrs)
- 15-24 yrs
- 45 yrs and over
1.80***
1.02ns
1.75***
1.13***
1.61***
1.09***
Family status (Spouse)
- Not in economic family
- Lone parent
- Child / Grandchild
1.32***
1.11**
1.58***
1.16***
1.18***
1.36***
1.26***
1.31***
1.42***
32
Having a Level B education, having studied elsewhere than in a
Western country or working between 10 and 30 hours weekly results
in more overqualification
Montreal CMA
Human capital
characteristics
Both
groups
Education level (Level A)
- Level C
- Level B
0.32***
1.39***
Place of study (Canada)
- Western country
- Elsewhere
0.86***
1.39***
Hours worked (30 hours or more)
- Less than 10 hours
- Between 10 and 30 hours
1.30***
1.79***
Target
group
Comparison
group
33
Again, the influence of human capital characteristics appears to
be similar in both groups (except place of study)
Montreal CMA
Human capital
characteristics
Both groups
Target
group
Comparison
group
Education level (Level A)
- Level C
- Level B
0.32***
1.39***
0.25***
1.21***
0.34***
1.46***
Place of study (Canada)
- Western country
- Elsewhere
0.86***
1.39***
0.91***
1.89***
0.69***
1.05ns
Hours worked (30 hours or more)
-Less than 10 hours
-Between 10 and 30 hours
1.30***
1.79***
1.27***
1.60***
1.31***
1.85***
34
The influence of the human capital characteristics appears to be
similar across cities with two exceptions (Level B education, study in
Western country)
Target group
Human capital
characteristics
Montreal
Toronto
Vancouver
Education level (Level A)
- Level C
- Level B
0.25***
1.21***
0.20***
1.05***
0.22***
0.96**
Place of study (Canada)
- Western country
- Elsewhere
0.91***
1.89***
0.86***
1.73***
0.98ns
1.81***
Hours worked (30 hours or more)
- Less than 10 hours
- Between 10 and 30 hours
1.27***
1.60***
1.27***
1.80***
1.35***
1.72***
35
Target group (Levels A and B) : The higher the (specific)
diploma, the lower is overqualification
Level B ( other < Bacc)
hcdd
Trades cdd
Nonuniversity
studies: less
than 1 year
Nonuniversity
studies:
1 to 2 yrs
Nonuniversity
studies: more
than 2 yrs
University
certificate
below
bachelor
level
Montreal
Toronto
Vancouver
2.00***
2.08***
1.97***
1.37***
Level A (>= Bacc)
hccd
Montreal
Toronto
Vancouver
1.83***
Bachelor’s
degree
1
1
1
1.52***
University
certificate
above
bachelor
level
0.80***
0.79***
0.70***
1.22***
Degree in
medecine
etc ..
0.25***
0.51***
0.51***
Master’s
degree
0.43***
0.49***
0.46***
Earned
doctorate
0.14***
0.25***
0.18***
1.55***
1.53***
1.16***
1.05*
0.93*
1
1
1
36
Proficiency in the official languages
None of the language variables in the census has
a discriminating capacity
 Proficiency in either official language (English or
French) is better for those who speak it at home
and, a fortiori, for those who have it as a mother
tongue
 As a result, our variable of language proficiency
is obtained by cross-classifying the three
language variables (Mother tongue, home
language and Knowledge of the official
languages) => 7 categories reflecting a
continuous variation in language proficiency

37
For the target group, overqualification increases with
diminishing proficiency in the official languages, in the 3
metropolises, not just in Montreal !
Target group:
Influence of proficiency in the official languages
HL=Non official, KOL=Neither Fr nor En
HL=Non official, KOL=Fr or En
HL=Non official, KOL=Fr and En
Vancouver
MT=Non official, HL=Official, KOL=Fr or En
Toronto
Montreal
MT=Non official, HL=Official, KOL=Fr and En
MT=Official, HL=Official, KOL=Fr or En
MT=Official, HL=Official, KOL=Fr and En (ref)
0
0.5
1
1.5
2
2.5
38
SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS
39
Main findings

Influence of birthplace and vismin

Strong influence of vismin membership




Reinforcing role of birthplace outside Canada


3 groups in all three cities: Filipino, Black and Latino American
South Asian and Southeast Asian in Toronto and Vancouver
Arab in Toronto
Nevertheless strong influence among recent (2001-2006)
immigrants
Influence of other individual characteristics
Similar influence in both target and comparison groups
(with a few exceptions including the linguistic variable)
 Similar influence across the 3 cities
 Clear gradient in the impact of the proficiency in the
official languages (target group only)

40
Policy implications and future research

Policy implications


Target salaried workers belonging to the vismin and especially
the Filipino, Black and Latin American groups
“No size fits all” programs intended for those born outside
Canada but rather promote programs



Targeting recent immigrants
Aiming to attenuate the negative effects of risk factors such as being a
female, young, having obtained a diploma in a non Western country, lacking
proficiency in the official languages)
Research development
Pursue the analysis by level of education (already in progress)
 Refine the dependent and independent variables

41