Winnipegger struggles to find job in her field, years after coming to Canada

At least one Winnipeg woman says she's struggling to find work in her chosen field, years after she came to Canada.

Rufina Funk, a registered nurse who came to Canada from Paraguay in 2001, says she has put out 150 applications across Winnipeg in the past two years, but she's found work only as a housekeeper.

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Funk said she had thought she could transfer the training she received in her home country toward a nursing job in Canada.

But after spending $8,000 on translations, applications and assessments over the years, Funk said she's almost ready to give up.

"I'm waiting for a job, you know, while I'm going and cleaning houses — waiting for that job that I actually want to have," she said.

"It's hard to get up every day and find a purpose."

Last week, the Manitoba government announced that it will invest more money and resources to improve the recognition of foreign qualifications and help connect employees and employers.

Communication skills a key factor: economist

Manish Pandey, who teaches economics at the University of Winnipeg, says newcomers to Canada often struggle to find employment because they don't speak English as well.

"The Canadian economy [is] a more service-oriented economy now than it was before. Companies are essentially selecting people based on communication skills, and that is where immigrants are struggling the most," he said.

Pandey said his research, which reviewed 30 years of census data, suggests that immigrants to Canada generally earn less than native-born Canadians with seemingly similar qualifications.

"General trend has been in the last 30 years, new immigrants coming to Canada have been struggling. Cohort after cohort, successive cohorts have done worse relative to Canadian natives," he said, adding that a gap has widened between Canadians and immigrants with similar qualifications.

"This gap keeps increasing. Immigrants are doing worse and worse … as each successive cohort comes in," he said.

That earnings gap, Pandey said, narrows after newcomers spend approximately four to five years in Canada.

Although Funk is a Canadian citizen, she said she's had to work on her own to learn English and figure out how to match her credentials with Canadian standards.

Pandey said governments and job-matching agencies need to place more emphasis on teaching English-language skills to newcomers.

"I think for immigrants' performance to be better in the economy, there has to be more language training available for immigrants, and a more structured way of doing it — maybe more courses at the universities," he said.