Friday, May 25, 2007 | Updated at 1:01 PM EDT

Study says immigration has lowered Canadian wages

A new study says immigration has lowered wages for more highly-educated Canadian-born workers.

Compared to the United States, Canada has a significantly higher proportion of highly-skilled immigrants. In 2001, about four in 10 immigrants in Canada had more than an undergraduate university degree, compared to about one in five in the U.S.

According to the Statistics Canada study, that has curtailed the earnings growth of the most educated Canadians relative to the least educated. The study is restricted to male labour market participants aged 18 to 64.

But Sadhna Jayatunge, outreach coordinator for Hamilton's Settlement and Integration Services Organization (SISO), disagrees.

"Immigrants go through a selection process and fill the occupations we can't fill," Jayatunge says. "There couldn't be an excess or disadvantage to people here. They only help the situation."

She also says there is a disconnection between the skills newcomers bring and the employers who need those skills.

In the U.S. a higher proportion of immigrants h are less educated. The study says these newcomers have depressed earnings of low-paid Americans and increased the gap between rich and poor.

Between 1980 and 2000, immigration increased the Canadian male labour force by 13.2 per cent and 11.1 percent in the U.S., the study found.

http://www.hamiltonspectator.com/bre...s_3027801.html