When new immigrants arrive in Calgary without strong English, they often look for clearing jobs or warehouse work. But with unemployment rates among newcomers soaring, even these entry-level jobs are in short supply.
It’s been devastating for those who risked their family’s security and livelihoods to come. For the rest of society, researchers and economists say it’s a wasted opportunity to integrate these families, match them with jobs Calgary needs filled, and keep them here for the long term.
Mechanic Belachew Mebratu is a good example. He’s been applying online and in person for dozens of cleaning, warehouse and other jobs for seven months with no luck.
He’s 42 and now his wife and two kids in Ethiopia can’t pay rent or school fees. They had to move back in with her parents, and the children had to drop out of school.
“Professionally, I am a mechanic. But I don’t make any choices, I actually apply for any kind of job, including cleaning,” said Mebratu, speaking through a translator. “I left my country because of the problems back home. I have a work permit but I cannot get a job here in Calgary.”
He’s one of a dozen men and women originally from East Africa who gathered at the EthioCare office to share their stories with CBC News. EthioCare is a small community non-profit in northeast Calgary that helps with food and social support.
In Alberta, immigrants who have been in Canada for less than five years are facing an unemployment rate that edged above 16 per cent in August — near what it was during the worst of pandemic shutdowns.
Part of that is the long-standing challenge that immigrants face getting their professional qualifications recognized in Canada. There are also long waiting lists now for English classes.
But the shortage of these entry-level labour jobs was the biggest surprise for these job seekers.
Etsegenet Gebeyhu spent 18 years living in Uganda as a refugee before a friend sponsored her and her two children. They arrived in Calgary on July 4 this year and she’s been trying to gain the skills she needs to get her first Canadian job.
She took a food safety course and applied for jobs as a line cook or dishwasher, and also in cleaning and as a disability support worker. She’s even volunteering at a local thrift store, borrowing funds for the bus ticket across town and hoping this will help with networking and experience.
“It’s just frustrating,” she said, speaking a mix of English and Amharic. “I cannot go back to school right now because I have to support my kids.… My older son says I took him out of warm water and put him into freezing cold water. He’s 16 and I can’t get a job.”
Calgary’s population has been growing at a record pace since 2022 from a mix of interprovincial migration, immigration and temporary foreign workers. People have been moving here because it’s a large city that’s more affordable than Toronto or Vancouver.
Calgary has been gaining jobs to support those newcomers, but not fast enough. At 7.5 per cent, Alberta now has a higher unemployment rate than the rest of the country, which averages 6.8 per cent, and it’s especially bad for newcomers and young adults.
For immigrants who have been in Canada five years or less, the three-month rolling average hit 16 per cent in July and August. Then it eased to 12 per cent in November.
ATB economist Mark Parsons told CBC News that those numbers make this a strange population boom.
“It’s a very different migration cycle,” said Parsons. “Typically when you have an unemployment rate that’s higher than the rest of Canada, you don’t see these massive inflows of people from other provinces.”
There are also worker shortages in some areas, such as construction, tourism and in some rural areas, Parsons said.
“We think people will get matched over time to some of those job opportunities, and that unemployment rate will start to nudge it a little bit lower,” he said. “We’re not expecting it to dramatically decline. It’ll stay elevated, but some of the upward pressure that’s been coming from this persistent growth in the labour force, that’ll come off.”
Canada risks reputational damage when immigrants can’t find work, said Stephany Laverty, senior researcher with the Canada West Foundation.
They’re going to be sharing their struggles with friends and family back home. And they’ll also look at leaving, she said. Their research suggests a city has six months to convince someone to stay.
“If they can’t get into language training or whatever within the first six months, they’re looking at where else they can move to. And it’s not even just where in Canada can we move to, it’s where in the world can we move to.”
In Calgary, several cleaning companies say they’re swamped with inquiries.
Boris Vujanovic at WestMaids said they used to get the odd call from someone looking for work. Now they get at least one cold call a day.
Jared Sarbit with Picture Perfect Cleaners said they try to hire friends and family of current employees so they can trust them working alone in sensitive places.
But if they do post on the job site Indeed, he said they’re getting double the number of resumés.
Jean Marie Nshimirimana, a former midwife in Burundi who now cleans apartment buildings with Picture Perfect, said he even gets inquiries from strangers while he’s working.
“But it’s hard because when I’m working, I find people,” he said. “They come; they say, ‘Please, help me how to find job. Please, help me how to find job.'”
Back in the northeast, EthioCare staff bought pizza and made coffee. Many of these newcomers are refugees who came as privately-sponsored permanent residents. The host families, who are often fairly new to Canada themselves, commit to supporting them with no government assistance for a year.
The men and women sat around the table talking about potential solutions. If only there were programs that could give them experience on the job, or incentives to hire newcomers, said one.
Is this only in Alberta, or would things be better in a different Canadian city, wondered another.
Derege Mengesha came from Uganda with a background in business and hotel management. He said he’s worried about those who are getting discouraged. He sees one newcomer he knows who earned a bachelor’s degree in East Africa. Now he sees him near Marborough Mall suffering from drug use and sleeping outside.
“He’s become crazy,” he said.
For himself, Mengesha said he has been looking for a job for four months. He had three interviews in that time, for a meat-packing plant, a hotel cleaning job and an office supply store.
One recruiter even said he passed the interview and would get a call back. But he heard nothing. He said when he reached out two weeks later to double-check, they said the position was already filled.
But he’s not complaining about the companies, he said.
“I’m complaining about my chance, my luck.”
He’s quick to reassure the rest of the group, Canada is still a good country to come to.
“I’m welcome and happy to be in Canada. At least I’m sleeping well without any shouting. We have peace.”
Growth Spurt, Calgary
Calgary is growing again and quickly. But this population boom is different. CBC Calgary is looking at the impacts all week. See what you’ve missed at cbc.ca/yycgrowth.