Aboriginal graduates

The proportion of graduates who identified themselves as aboriginal peoples declined from 5% of trade or vocational school graduates to 2% of college graduates and 1 % of university graduates. A comparison of labour market outcomes of aboriginal and non-aboriginal graduates highlights some dramatic differences at the end of the transition process. At the college and trade or vocational levels, aboriginal graduates were less likely to be employed and more likely to be either unemployed or not in the labour force. This pattern was reversed at the university level, with aboriginal graduates having higher levels of employment and lower rates of unemployment or not being in the labour force. A university degree seems to lead to a better labour market outcome for aboriginal peoples compared with college or trade qualification.

Differences in median annual earnings between aboriginal and non-aboriginal graduates were not large ($1,000 to $2,000) and varied by level of qualification. Aboriginal graduates of trade or vocational and bachelor programs earned less, while those who possessed a qualification at the college or master's level earned more than their non-aboriginal counterparts. The biggest earning gap was between men and women in both the aboriginal and non-aboriginal groups; aboriginal women reported earnings $3,000 to $5,000 lower than their male counterparts.

Visible minorities

Because the Statistics Canada surveys of graduates did not identify members of visible minorities, this section is based on information from the constituency report commissioned by the CLFDB for this Task Force (see Appendix B). Despite a higher proportion of graduates with either a university degree or some university education, members of visible minority groups face less appropriate transitions from education to employment. Almost 30% of members of visible minorities had a university education, compared with less than 18% of the rest of the population. Yet visible minorities are underrepresented in upper managerial positions.

An important factor in these transitions is lack of recognition of foreign educational and professional credentials by Canadian institutions. Foreign qualification holders, a significant number of whom fall into the visible minority equity group, have expressed a profound sense of frustration and anguish over the problem of recognition. Associated problems include poor procedures for assessing prior learning and experience; inadequate retraining and upgrading procedures; lack of technical language training; insufficient financial support; and high fees for re-qualification.