The State of Employment among English-speaking Quebecers

2025 - 12 - 2

Authors

Executive Summary

Masashi Miyari – The Social Research and Demonstration Corporation (SRDC)

Kim Lehrer – The Social Research and Demonstration Corporation (SRDC)

Contributor

Marlena Flick – Policy Researcher, Provincial Employment Roundtable (PERT)

The full inclusion of all Quebecers in the economy benefits individuals, businesses, and society as a whole. However, research has shown that English speakers in Québec experience heightened socioeconomic precarity compared to their French-speaking peers. In this report, we compare the employment outcomes of English speakers in 2021 using the Census and develop a methodology that constructs labour market indicators in non-census years. We use that methodology to predict employment outcomes until 2025 and to project them in the medium-term under three hypothetical scenarios for labour force growth in Québec: (1) status quo, (2) slower growth, and (3) stagnated growth.

We show that, on average, English speakers are younger, more educated, and more likely to be located in Montréal and surrounding municipalities compared to their French-speaking peers. These differences are important determinants of employment outcomes and should be taken into account in discussions of employment outcome gaps between the two groups. Once these differences are accounted for, as well as other differences in characteristics that are related to labour market outcomes, we find important employment and income disparities for English speakers. If English speakers received the same returns to their characteristics as French speakers, and assuming that employment outcome differences due to linguistic differences alone can be eliminated, their total income, and as such, the economy of Québec could benefit from an additional $1.51 billion annually.

The research presented in the report also showcases two important methodological innovations for the analysis of English speakers’ employment outcomes in Québec. Firstly, it highlights the importance of taking into account labour market determinants, such as education, when investigating gaps in employment and earnings. Secondly, it enables researchers and policy makers to predict employment outcomes in non-census years. Depending on the industry and stagnation scenario, the results predict that, in 2028, certain industries will struggle to hire qualified employees. Our projected values for 2028 also show that unemployment rate gaps persist across all three labour market scenarios.

We make the following two key recommendations to government and community stakeholders:

We recommend that the Québec government work in collaboration with key stakeholders to develop and implement a targeted strategy to close the employment and income disparities between English and French speakers.
In order to mitigate predicted labour shortages in key industries, we recommend the Québec government develop, implement and promote policies to attract, employ, and retain English speakers in Québec.