Thank you very much and thank you for having me here to speak. Thank you to the wonderful panellists. I really enjoyed hearing from all of you.
I am here to discuss the important role that immigrants play in our national economic prosperity. Immigrants bring skills, innovation, new perspectives, and international business knowledge to Canada. They are vital to the economic growth and ongoing prosperity of our country: 38% of immigrants to Canada have a university degree compared to 24% of people born here, and a stunning half of all people in Canada who have Ph.D.s were immigrants to Canada.
At the Toronto Region Immigrant Employment Council, we create and champion solutions to better integrate skilled immigrants into the greater Toronto region labour market. Why is this important? Because the skills and talents of immigrants are not being leveraged to their full potential. In Toronto, the problem is particularly prevalent. One report recently found that only 3% of immigrants who were working in professional occupations before coming to Toronto were working in their field after landing here.
Immigrant underemployment also costs the Canadian economy, wasting billions in lost earnings each year. If immigrant skills were rewarded in a similar way to those of Canadian-born workers, the increase in their incomes would amount to about $30 billion, or the equivalent of 2.1% of our gross domestic product.
Because of our low birth rate, Canada needs immigrants for both economic and social prosperity. Several recent reports have predicted that net migration will be the key driver to any future population growth. Immigrants play a vital role in expanding the workforce so there are enough people to do the jobs that need to be done, build our infrastructure, pay taxes, and contribute to our social and economic well-being.
The committee's question for witnesses asks what federal measures would help Canadians and Canadian businesses be more productive and competitive, and our recommendation really helps both. We recommend that the Government of Canada invest in immigrant mentoring programs as a proven, effective way to increase the employment of skilled immigrants across Canada, while also helping Canadian businesses benefit from having more diverse, productive teams.
Mentoring programs match an immigrant with a mentor in their field. In our program they spend about 18 hours together over three months. During that time, the mentor helps the immigrant understand Canadian workplace culture and how to conduct a job search. Most importantly, the mentor must connect the mentee with at least seven people in their professional network. We know that 70% of the jobs out there are not actually even posted, so the only way to progress in your career is to build that professional network. That's what mentoring does.
The results of mentoring are outstanding. Seventy-five per cent of mentees matched with mentoring partnerships find employment in their field. Full-time annual earnings of immigrants increase on average by 62% after participating in the program. A recent study by the Boston Consulting Group showed that the social return on investment for the program is also very high. For every $1 invested in the program, there is a return of $10.50 in benefits to Canada.
However, the program changes the mentors too. For me, this is one of the most important parts of what we do. Eighty-seven per cent of mentors tell us they are much more likely to hire a skilled immigrant after participating in the program. Businesses and employers become much more diverse as a result, leading to more productivity, innovation, and connection to new global markets.
There are mentoring programs across Canada delivering these results for immigrants and employers, but we could integrate more immigrants into the Canadian economy faster with further investment. We ask for the creation of a national mentoring fund to increase the opportunities for immigrants to have access to this important intervention.
Skilled immigrants have made the choice to come to Canada and contribute to our country, but we owe it to them and to ourselves to ensure that they have the best opportunity for success.
Thank you.