OTTAWA — Newcomers to Canada continue to flood the transportation sector, according to Stats Canada’s newest Immigrant Labour Market report.

While most employment growth for immigrants aged 25 to 54 was in the service sector in 2007, the transportation sector — including the truck, bus and cab industries — saw a notable gain of 19,000 immigrant workers last year.

For the Canadian born workers, the largest employment gains were in public administration, professional, scientific and technical services, as well as finance, insurance, real estate and leasing.

Meanwhile, Canadian-born workers saw construction employment expand and manufacturing employment shrink, while immigrants recorded a modest decline in construction and a small gain in manufacturing, according to StatsCan.

Among the various age groups, older immigrants aged 55 and over posted very strong gains, increasing 9.3 percent and overshadowing the pace of 6.5 percent for Canadian-born older workers.

The employment rate gap between immigrants
and Canadian born workers continues to widen.

For young immigrants aged 15 to 24, employment rose only 2 percent, virtually the same rate as for Canadian-born youth.

Overall, employment among immigrants aged 25 to 54, that is, core working age, increased 2.1 percent in 2007, thanks in large part to gains among immigrants in Quebec (plus 28,000).

Despite these gains, the employment rate gap between immigrants and the Canadian born continues to widen, as the population of immigrants increased much faster than their employment.

Virtually all the population growth among the immigrant core-working age population in 2007 was attributable to individuals born in Asia (including the Middle East).