English-speaking Quebecers face higher unemployment, earn less than francophones, report finds
CBC
Anglophone Quebecers in most regions of the province are more likely to be unemployed and to earn less than their francophone counterparts, according to a new report.
The report, compiled by the Provincial Employment Roundtable (PERT), a non-profit organization that aims to address employment challenges for Quebec's English-speaking community, is based on an analysis of data from the 2016 federal census and the provincial statistics agency, the Institut de la Statistique du Québec.
Overall, the analysis found that Québec's English speakers have an unemployment rate of 8.9 per cent, compared to 6.9 per cent for French speakers and an overall provincial unemployment rate of 7.2 per cent.
In 15 of 17 administrative regions, the unemployment rate for English speakers outpaced both the rate for French speakers and the average rate for the region.
The unemployment rates for English speakers was highest in Côte-Nord (25.5 per cent), Gaspésie-Îles-de-la-Madeleine (22.1 per cent), Nord-du-Québec (16.6 per cent) and Abitibi-Témiscamingue (12.6).
In Montreal, unemployment rates for anglophones (9.1 per cent) and francophones (8.8 per cent) were roughly on par with the average of 9 per cent.
The report also found that in 14 of 17 regions, including Montreal, English speakers have a lower median after-tax income than French speakers and the population on average.
The gap was widest in the Eastern Townships, Abitibi-Témiscamingue, Nord-du-Québec and Centre-du-Québec, where English speakers earned on average at least $4,000 less annually than their French-speaking counterparts.
Only in the regions of Chaudière-Appalaches, Saguenay-Lac-St-Jean and Mauricie did English speakers earn more.
"This ... old stereotype of English speakers as this homogenous kind of wealthy elite is undone by those findings," said PERT executive director Nicholas Salter.
Aki P. Tchitacov, executive director of YES Employment & Entrepreneurship, a non-profit organization that offers career services to the English-speaking community, said that old stereotype obscures the complex barriers that some English speakers face in accessing employment.
"The unemployment rate for minority youth in Quebec is even higher," said Tchitacov. "People's impression of the community might be stuck in the 60s or the 70s. So there's work to be done, especially to educate decision-makers."
The organization also conducted interviews with regional groups that support employment in their English-speaking communities. It found that English speakers have trouble accessing French-language training that might help them adapt to French-language workplaces.
Salter said in the context of the current labour shortage, it's important to correct this.
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