Getting Started

Submitted by jsuart on Fri, 2011-09-23 12:30

JUMP AHEAD

 ---

Immigration arrivals are increasing

In 2010, 437 permanent residents settled in Kingston upon arrival in Canada, an increase of 10% from 2009, and a 13% increase over the annual average from 2005-2009. Immigration rates to Kingston (as measured by initial settlement of permanent residents) have seen little increase over the last 10 years. From 2000-2009, the average was 388  newcomers/year, with a high of 480 in 2004 and a low of 307 in 2002. While this upswing is the highest amount since the high water mark of 2004, it will take a few years before it can be called a trend.  

Source: Kingston Immigration Partnership

New Immigrants are educated

Of those new immigrants to Kingston assessed by Citizenship and Immigration Canada, 70% are considered to have “professional” level skills and experience, while 63% hold a university degree. Immigration offers Kingston an influx of talent and skills – immigrants to Kingston have higher levels of education and training than the average for the Kingston public. 

Source: Kingston Immigration Partnership

Chinese, Arabic are the main languages of new immigrants

For immigrants, Chinese is the most commonly-spoken non-official language, while Arabic is the fastest growing language in the Kingston area. For the first time, the most commonly-spoken non-official language is not a European language. Chinese has displaced Portuguese in this category. The increase in Arabic speakers signals a new trend of immigration from the Middle East.   

Source: Kingston Immigration Partnership

Youth unemployment is getting worse

The average seasonally unadjusted unemployment rate for youth (15 to 24 years) during the first half of 2011 was 16.8 per cent in the Kingston CMA – almost three times the rate for all workers 15 and older (6.1 per cent for the first half of 2011). The national average youth unemployment rate for the same period was 14.4 per cent and the provincial average was 16.1 per cent. The average for the first half of 2011 increased 25.3 per cent from 13.4 per cent in the second half of 2010.

Source: Statistics Canada

Students don’t want to stay

A 2008 study by KEDCO and Queen’s University found that many university students see Kingston as a place to learn, not to stay. In the study, more than half the students at Queen’s University said the employment prospects in Kingston were either moderately or very dissatisfying. Of those who had investigated employment opportunities, only 21.6 per cent had looked in Kingston. With Queen’s alumni, the results were much the same. Almost 50 per cent of alumni did not consider Kingston when looking for work.

Source: Creative Economy Challenges: Retention of Queen’s Graduates in the Greater Kingston Area, KEDCO& Queen’s University.

Students don’t feel connected to Kingston

The 2008 study also asked Queen’s students “Do you consider yourself to be a member of the Kingston community?”. Nearly half, some 43.9%, said “No”.

Source: Creative Economy Challenges: Retention of Queen’s Graduates in the Greater Kingston Area, KEDCO& Queen’s University.

Child care remains a challenge

Child care in the Kingston area is undergoing major changes. Success By 6 is a United Way initiative that supports organizations that work with young children age 0 to 6 years, identifies gaps in children’s services locally and works to make early childhood development a priority. In their 2008 evaluation report, the Success By 6 found:

  • an increase in percentage of children in licensed child care arrangements and a drop in the percentage of children in care with a non-relative in or out of the home.
  • the majority of funding for child care comes from parent fees which limits access to early learning and quality care arrangements for many families.

The City of Kingston’s Community and Family Services agency is the service delivery agent for provincial child care services in this area. It provides services, wage subsidies and special needs funding for child care. There are more than 2,700 licenced full day equivalent child care spaces in the Community and Family Services agency service area. About one in ten is  designated as francophone. More than 1,400 children are subsidized in licenced childcare centres.  In its Kingston Frontenac Childcare Service Plan 2010 – 2012 it also found similar system-wide challenges:

  • the ability to attract well-qualified, competent staff and caregivers is the cornerstone of quality childcare, however salary levels in Ontario’s childcare sector remain unacceptably low. 
  • the continued growth of new and expanding programs is resulting in additional wage subsidy pressures (since 2000).

One recent change in child care is Ontario’s Early Learning Program, a provincial initiative to phase in full day learning for 4 and 5 year olds in nearly 600 schools across the province. It will be fully phased-in by 2015-16. The Algonquin and Lakeshore Catholic District School Board and the Limestone District School Board have both started to open Early Learning Programs at area schools. The impact of the Program has local child care providers worried. The Kingston Frontenac Childcare Service Plan found that about half of those child care operators who responded to their survey were worried that the loss of 4 and 5 year olds would impact their organization’s revenues.

Sources: United Way, 2008 Review Of Early Learning & Child Care In Kfl&A & City of Kingston’s Community and Family Services,  Kingston Frontenac Childcare  Service Plan 2010 – 2012