Immigrants still struggle with finding adequate employment and conquering the language barrier after four years in Canada, according to two new reports from Statistics Canada.
Released on Monday, the reports were part of the third wave of the Longitudinal Survey of Immigrants to Canada.
"Immigrants' perspectives on their first four years in Canada" says finding adequate employment was the most difficult part of moving among 46 per cent of immigrants.
The lack of Canadian work experience was cited by 50 per cent as the major difficulty in finding employment, followed by a lack of job contacts, and recognition of foreign experience.
Learning either French or English as a second language was cited as the second most difficult aspect of their immigration experience.
The second report, "Knowledge of Official Languages among New Immigrants: How Important is it in the Labour Market," took an in-depth look at both of these issues and found they are intrinsically linked.
The study found that the employment rate of immigrants increased with their ability to speak English.
Similarly, those who reported they were proficient with their new language were more likely to have a high-skill job.
Government researchers found new Canadians were well aware of the importance of learning one of the country's official languages.
Forty-five per cent of immigrants said they had taken language training in English since coming to Canada.
Despite these difficulties, immigrants to Canada are reporting they are happy with their decision to relocate citing a better quality of life as the main reason.
The agency reports about two-thirds of immigrants found Canada met their expectations.
Some 7,700 immigrants aged 15 and over were surveyed for the third wave of the study.
They were first interviewed after they had been in Canada for six months and later after living in the country for two years.
Canada's population currently sits around 33 million and is expected to rise to 39 million by 2026 with immigration cited as the major contributor to that growth.
