Employment Experiences of Jamaican Immigrants in Montreal

The author focused his exploratory study on employment as an important area in the life experience of immigrants and their integration into their new society. He inquired into the employment experiences (circa 1970) of a sample of twenty Jamaicans who immigrated to Montreal during the years 1963 - 1969 and who were selected to represent a variety of occupational backgrounds. Information was requested concerning the last main job held by the immigrants in Jamaica, jobs held since coming to Montreal, degree of satisfaction and/or dissatisfaction in the employment experiences, periods of unemployment, and any specific concerns or problems related to employment that may have been experienced. From the author’s analysis of the data collected, the following findings emerged: males displayed higher expectations in the degree of satisfactions expressed than did females; younger members of the sample who were, on average, less qualified and expressed greater dissatisfaction; there was a high correlation between a higher educational level and greater job satisfaction; while longer residence in Canada facilitated the accumulation of Canadian work experience, this correlation with feelings of satisfaction was not high; initial dissatisfaction was expressed by comparison with the last job held in Jamaica and with expectations on coming to Canada, but this changed over a period of time; the feelings of respondents about their employment experiences during the first three months, after the first job and at the time of their current or last employment showed, on average, a marked trend towards increased satisfaction; a functional relationship was apparent between low satisfaction and the characteristics of low earnings, low status occupations, low educational level, and poor interpersonal job relationships; colour discrimination was perceived as a present while not critical element of the Jamaicans’ experience in their employment life in Montreal.

Master's Thesis

McGill University

Montreal

1970

[vii]-85p.

en