Quebec losing $1.5B a year as anglophones face high unemployment, lower wages: report

A new report finds anglophones face higher unemployment and lower wages in Quebec; gaps that researchers say carry major economic consequences.

A new labour-market report is warning that Quebec’s English-speaking population continues to face entrenched economic disadvantages, and that these disparities are costing the province far more than previously understood.

Researchers behind the study say the findings challenge long-held stereotypes about anglophones in Quebec and reveal a labour-market gap that is shrinking the province’s economy annually.

“It’s increasingly the opposite,” said Nicholas Salter, executive director of the Provincial Employment Roundtable (PERT), which commissioned the research. “The poverty data is particularly stark and shocking.”

Researchers warn that these challenges are persistent, measurable and not going away without targeted intervention.

According to the report, Quebec is losing more than $1.5 billion every year because English-speaking Quebecers continue to face lower wages, higher unemployment and nearly double the poverty rate of francophones.

When those gaps are projected across the labour force, researchers estimate that the lost income annually is money that isn’t being earned, spent or taxed.

According to 2021 census data, the unemployment rate among anglophones was 10.9 per cent, compared with 6.9 per cent among francophones.

Even when considering age, education, region and immigration status, the employment rate for English speakers remained 2.8 points lower, and their wages nearly 12 per cent lower.