Contributors

Executive Summary

Morgan Gagnon, Policy Researcher, PERT

Nicholas Salter, Executive Director, PERT

Chad Walcott, Director of Engagement & Communications, PERT

Maria J. De Las Salas, Communications and Engagement Specialist, PERT

This report examines data from a survey divided into two parts. The first part surveyed the employment experiences of 259 English-speaking Quebecers, including their navigation of the labour market, their French-language proficiency, the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and the barriers they face in the labour market. The second part supplemented this information by exploring the perspectives of 29 organizations that serve and/or employ English speakers regarding the employment landscape for English speakers and the impacts of French-language policies on employment.

The survey data offers some insights into how language and employment interact for English speakers in Québec. A lack of French-language skills and French-language training were priority concerns for English-speaking respondents to the survey. While rates of English-French bilingualism have grown considerably among English speakers in Québec in the last 50 years,1 this survey signals that French remains a barrier for some. There is a need for increased access to French-language training and increased awareness among employers, employment service deliverers and policymakers of how language impacts employment in Québec. The survey results also show that more English-language employment services may be needed to address the unique employment challenges that English speakers are facing in the labour market. Unsurprisingly, COVID-19 posed a challenge for respondents and the survey shows that the pandemic had negative impacts, particularly with respect to layoffs and workplace closures. This data is especially important given the dearth of information on the impacts of COVID-19 on linguistic minorities and indicates the need for better data collection on the socioeconomic situation of English speakers and other linguistic minorities in Québec.

Key Findings:

• Lack of French-language skills was the most common barrier to employment experienced by individual respondents: 67% of respondents indicated that they had experienced this barrier in the past three years.
• Organizations also indicated that a lack of French-language skills was a significant barrier to employment for the English-speaking community: 75% of organizational respondents listed this as a barrier.
• 31% of individual respondents indicated that linguistic discrimination and/or employer bias based on language had been a barrier to employment they experienced in the past three years.
• Individual respondents identified French-language training as the leading program that would benefit their employability: 53% of individuals identified intensive French-language training as a beneficial program, while 49% of individuals indicated workplace-integrated French-language training would be beneficial.
• 84% of organizational respondents indicated that workplace-integrated French-language training would most benefit English speakers.
• 72% of organizations indicated that workplace-integrated skills development would be beneficial for English speakers.