CASJ study reveals: Filipinos in Toronto ‘deprofessionalized’

CASJ study reveals: Filipinos in Toronto ‘deprofessionalized’

TORONTO – Why is it that despite having high levels of education among Filipino immigrants, a vast majority of them end up in lower paying jobs, resulting in an average income lower than those of most immigrants?

A recent survey conducted by the Community Alliance for Social Justice (CASJ) in collaboration with Dr. Philip Kelly of York University, explains the deprofessionalization, deskilling and occupational segmentation experienced by many Filipino immigrants in Canada, which to a large part explains this high education-low income discrepancy.

Government 2001 statistics indicate that 57 percent of Filipino immigrants in Toronto had some university-level education, compared with 35 percent for all Candians, the study notes.
Yet, Filipimos are concentrated in a few sectors and in lower occupational niches, where on average, Filipinos earn less than what visible minority immigrants earn as a whole.

The study, titled “The Deprof-essionalized Filipino: Explaining Subordinate Labour Market Roles in Toronto,” co-authored by Mila Astorga-Garcia and Dr. Philip Kelly explores the causes of such deprofession-alization in the Filipino community, using the survey and focus group methods. (Garcia is research advisor of the CASJ, and research analyst with the City of Toronto’s Social Development Division. Kelly is a professor at the Department of Geography, York University.)

The main cause identified in the survey and focus groups was the systemic non-recognition of Philippine-earned education and experience.

As a consequence of this systemic barrier, Filipinos are forced to take on survival jobs to support themselves and their families and to meet financial obligations such as debts incurred due to the high cost of immigration.
In the survey, 53 percent of the respondents cited non-recognition of credentials and professionals’ licenses as a factor preventing them from practicing their profession.

Provincial regulatory bodies that make accreditation and licensing decisions were criticized by focus group participants for their basic ignorance of Filipino institutions and qualifications; arbitrariness in application of standards, high cost of enrolment in upgrading courses, and the failure to recognize even third country, including U.S., experience.

Many Filipino professionals thus end up in jobs far below their educational qualifications and skills, training and experience. Half of the survey respondents said they were “overqualified” in their current jobs. This situation applies to both the old-timers as well as newcomers, thus shaterring the popularly bandied myth that only the newcomers find difficulty accessing their trades and professions.

Of those who said they were “over-qualified” in their present jobs, 53 per cent were post-1990 arrivals while 41 per cent were pre-1990 arrivals.

Another cause revealed in the CASJ study was discrete discrimination. The main basis for work-related discrimination or unfair treatment, the survey revealed was race/colour (63%). Other leading factors cited were accent, culture, ethnicity, gender and religion.

In the focus groups, an outstanding criticism was directed against Canada’s immigration policy and practice of bringing in the best and the brightest immigrants from the Philippines and other countries through their strict point system. Majority of these immigrants, however, are not absorbed in jobs commensurate to their education and training, with the end result of immigrants ending up as a source of high quality cheap labour in Canada.

Approximately 1,100 survey questionnaires were distributed, mainly by hand through the board members and volunteers of CASJ. Over 420 completed survey questionnaires were received – a response rate of around 40 per cent.

Focus groups were held with engineers, accountants, nurses, and with a group of mixed professions, both regulated and unregulated. (More focus groups are planned with physiotherapists, nurses and professionals who came in as live-in-caregivers.)

The authors attribute the remarkably high survey response rate of around 40 per cent not only to the distribution technique used, but more importantly, to the level of frustration among members of the community around this issue. Survey questionnaires were distributed at association meetings, social events, festivals, workplaces, residences, etc., by CASJ volunteers who took responsibility for collecting them.

The study was only one among other research studies on Filipinos in Canada featured at a workshop on Filipino immigration and settlement, during the recent 10th International Metropolis Conference, held October 17-21, 2004 at Metro Toronto Convention Centre.

The conference centre-based workshop, organized by Dr. Geraldine Pratt of the University of British Columbia, encompassed topics covering the social consequences of Philippine migration, the deprofessionalization of Filipinos in Toronto, and the social costs of family separation due to migration.
Aside from Pratt, Kelly and Garcia, other workshop panelists were Cecilia Diocson, Philippine Women’s Centre Canada; Jill Hanley, Universite Libre de Bruxelles, Belgium; Winny Ang, Montreal Children’s Hospital; Roderick Carreon, Kabataang Montreal; Thelma Castro de Jesus, Montreal; and Lualhati Roque, executive director of the International Migration Resource Centre, Manila, Philippines.

The conference centre-based workshops, which have been a highlight of this prestigious conference, represent the best opportunity to discuss research on current immigration issues among research practitioners based in the academe and the community and policy makers.

The conference was attended by 1,300 delegates from all over the world.

The results of the CASJ study will be presented in a series of meetings with CASJ members, survey and focus group participants, and other interested community members. An expected outcome of these meetings is the formulation of a set of policy recommendations that CASJ will use in advocating for changes that will allow access to trades and professions in the Filipino community.

The study’s results will also serve as a guide in social planning, organizing and capacity building to strengthen the Filipino community.