Where Do the Anglos Work? A Review of Employment, Training and Educational Trends in the English-Speaking Communities of Quebec

The author points out that in the first decade of 2000, an increasing amount of effort and resources were focused on researching and analyzing the socio-economic situation of the English-speaking communities in Quebec. He notes that this was in part a reaction to many of the inaccurate assumptions that were being made by policy makers and program delivery agencies, and partly as a response to the community’s need to “re-inform” itself about the state of its own affairs given the substantial demographic, social and cultural shifts that have occurred in Quebec since the emergence of the Quiet Revolution. The author's article provides a labour force portrait of the English-speaking communities of Quebec that is also cross-referenced with educational levels and compared with the French-speaking majority. His important findings are that Anglophones are much more likely to be self-employed than their Francophone counterparts, even as employment rates tend to be lower. In addition, the level of the English-speaking population in Quebec that is “Industry—Not Applicable,” that is to say persons who have never worked or have not worked in at least a year prior to the year of data collection (2006), was also significantly higher than that of French speakers. Overlaid with the generally lower levels of formal educational attainment, the author's study provides a portrait of under-employed and under-skilled segments of the population for some of the English-speaking communities in rural and remote regions.

Journal of Eastern Townships Studies / Revue d'études des Cantons-de-l'Est

No. 36

149-165

Spring 2011

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