Click to edit Master title style,Click to edit Master text styles,Second level,Third level,Fourth level,Fifth level,*,Some Socio-Economic Characteristics of Visible Minority Groups in Ottawa,Prepared By:,Hindia Mohamoud,Research Director,Chola Mulenga,Research Assistant,The Social Planning Council of Ottawa,280,rue Metcalfe Street,suite/pice 501,Tel:236-9300-Ext.307,Fax:236-7060,Email:,Content:,Overview of the socio-economic conditions of visible minority and non-visible minority residents of Ottawa.,Exploration of the Socio-economic conditions of our selected Case Study communities.,Next Steps in project plans,Part I:All Visible Minority Groups,Visible Minority Residents Constitute a Growing Segment of Ottawas Population,There are 137,245 visible minority individuals in Ottawa accounting for 18 percent of the citys population.,The size of VM population is growing rapidly at four times the pace of the overall population(28 percent,compare d to the 7.3 percent).,Visible minority population accounted for almost 57 percent of Ottawas population growth.Consequently,it is expected that in Ottawa the visible minority population will assume a growing importance as a segment of local citizenry.,This presentation explores the socio-economic characteristics of the visible minority groups of Ottawa.,Visible Minority Population much younger than the non-visible minority population,Almost half(43 percent)of Ottawas VM population is younger than 24 years.This compares to 30 percent among the non-visible minority population.,Proportionally,the younger middle age groups(25-44)are comparable(35 vs 32 percent).But there is a higher proportion of 45-64 year olds among the non-visible minority groups.,Only 5 percent of the VM population is aged 65 years and over.This compared to 12 percent among the non-visible minority population.,Implication:Proportionally,higher economic dependence ratio;,higher school attendance rates;,Higher demand for child and youth related services.,Higher school attendance among VM groups partly due to prevalence of younger age groups.,25 percent of Ottawas VM population are attending school either in full time or part time basis.This Compares to 15 percent among the non-VM population.,Evidence from the focus group discussions that indicates the lack of employment opportunities forces visible minorities to attend school even if they already have sufficient education.,Lack of recognition of foreign credentials leads many newcomers to retrain in order to better their chances of landing a job.,One of the major impacts of this trend is for the visible minorities to incur more educational debt and further compromise their financial security.,Visible Minority Groups are more likely to be university graduates than the non-visible minority groups.,There are no significant differences in the proportion of Visible minorities and Non Visible Minorities who had less than high school(15.4 vs.14.4),There is considerable difference in the proportions who are educated in the trades,with visible minority residents being less likely to have a trades certification.,The higher percentage of visible minority in higher education could be a result of the higher educational attainment of the newcomers.,Visible minority residents are twice as likely to be unemployed as non-visible minority Residents,Generally speaking,the Labour Force Participation rate for the visible minority and non-visible minority groups are comparable.,However,the unemployment rate for the visible minority population was more than double that of the non visible population.,FG participants extremely concerned about:,Non-recognition of credentials;,Not knowing about the jobs;,Poor guidance and active discouragements,No opportunities to compete;,Unfair hiring practices;,Visible Minority Residents are four times more likely to live with low incomes,A Combination of,High unemployment rates;,Segregation into precarious employment;,Lack of mobility in the workplace(a Glass Ceiling phenomenon),Have lead to four times higher incidence,of low income among visible,minority residents of Ottawa.,VM residents represent almost one half of Ottawas poor.,Yet FG participants were more concerned about a sentiment of exclusion than about poverty.,In other words feelings of unfairness,lack of power and frustration resulting from non-recognition seemed to weigh more than the material deprivation.,It is also likely that people were“putting up an image and not willing to accept that they are poor.Perhaps poverty has a stigma of“failure.,Part II:Socio-economic conditions of Case Study Communities(CSCs),Visible minority residents are not homogeneous,They differ in:,Histories;,Circumstances of departure from regions of origin;,Circumstances of arrival in Canada and in Ottawa;,Historical experiences in Canada,Level of affinity with the majority;,Degrees of homogeneity and cohesion within;and,Socio-demographic structures,To understand variations of experiences in Ottawa,we have sel