4. Socio-cultural Characteristics
Page 8 of 16
Summary:
Quebec Anglophones have above-average rates of university graduation. Anglophones on the Island of Montréal tend to have higher rates of educational attainment than those residing elsewhere in the province. The economic condition of the Anglophone community varies across the province. In 2001, the unemployment rate for mother-tongue Anglophones was above the average in nearly every major region in the province with the exception of Montréal. The occupational profile of the Anglophone population diverges somewhat from that of the overall population, the most significant difference being in the level of education achieved. The median individual income of Quebec Anglophones is slightly ahead of mother-tongue Francophones, but in most parts of the province their income is less than the regional average. There is a considerable difference in income between those Quebecers who know both English and French and those who do not.
A. Educational Attainment
English-French bilingualism is positively correlated with higher income, as is higher education. Anglophones on the Island of Montréal tend to have higher rates of educational attainment than those residing elsewhere in the province. The gap is particularly significant when it comes to university graduates, with 41.7 percent of Montréal Anglophones holding university degrees, certificates or diplomas, compared with 28.9 percent of Anglophones in the rest of Quebec bearing such qualifications (the overall average for Quebec is 35.7 percent). In 2001, a higher proportion of Anglophones (17.8 percent) had not graduated high school than Francophones at 16.7 percent. However, when it comes to higher education, the situation is altogether different, with a greater percentage of Anglophones holding university degrees (27.9 percent) than their Francophone counterparts (16.9 percent), the latter having a greater share of persons with trade certificates and diplomas (11.3 versus 7.8 percent).
B. Employment and Income
In a mid-1980s publication titled The Forgotten Quebecers, historian Ronald Rudin notes that when they were not completely ignored in Canadian historic writing, English-speaking Quebecers have been presented in the guise of wealthy business people. For much of the 20th century, perhaps the most pervasive stereotype about Quebec Anglophones was that they were a group with privileged economic status. In 2001, the unemployment rate for mother-tongue Anglophones was above the average in nearly every major region with the exception of Montréal. On the Island, the overall rate stood at 9.2 percent in 2001, and at 8.5 percent for mother-tongue Anglophones – a figure higher than that of the Francophone population at 7.7 percent. In the Gaspé region, it was 20.9 percent for Anglophones, compared with the regional average at 16.8 percent. In Sherbrooke, it was 8.3 percent (the regional average was 7.1 percent). In Laval, it was 7.6 percent (the regional average was 5.7 percent). Regional economies have a profound impact on both employment and income. Therefore the cross-regional comparison in rates of unemployment is less important than the condition of the community within its region.
The occupational profile of the Quebec mother-tongue-English population differs somewhat from that of the entire population. The percentage of Anglophones who are managers (13.4 percent) is somewhat higher than the provincial average (10.4 percent), and the same applies to the business and financial professions (21.2 percent) relative to the broader population (18.2 percent).
Quebec Anglophones are much less represented in those professions identified as blue-collar – in transport, primary industry and processing and manufacturing – with just over one-sixth performing such functions, whereas one-quarter of all Quebecers are employed in this sector. Nonetheless, there is a significant difference in the occupational profile of Montréal Island Anglophones compared with those residing elsewhere in the province. In the rest of Quebec, Anglophones have an occupational profile that is similar to that of Quebecers on the whole. Nearly one-quarter of Anglophones outside the Island of Montréal are employed in the blue-collar sector compared with one-eighth in the metropolitan areas. The Montréal breakdown shows 5.6 percent of all Anglophone workers are in the health sector. In the rest of Quebec the figure drops to 3.8 percent. Some 6 percent of all employed Montréal Anglophone are in the arts and culture, compared with 3 percent in the rest of Quebec. Differences in occupational profiles between Anglophones on the Island and those in the rest of the province are best explained by varying regional economies and divergences in educational attainment.
The median individual income of Anglophones is slightly ahead of mother-tongue Francophones in Quebec ($21,619 to $21,166) and in Montréal ($21,966 to $21,599). In the Gaspé, Sherbrooke, the South Shore and Laval, the median income of mother-tongue Francophones is more than 10 percent greater than that of their Anglophone counterparts. But when assessing the situation on a regional basis, those in the mother-tongue-English category are ahead of their Francophone counterparts in the Outaouais and Québec City.
There is a substantial employment and income gap between those Quebecers who know both English and French and those who do not. In 2001, the rate of unemployment among mother-tongue Anglophones aged 25 to 34 with knowledge of both English and French was 7.5 percent (it was 7 percent in Montréal), with an unemployment rate of 14.3 percent for those Quebec Anglophones who knew English only. By contrast, bilingual Francophones had a rate of unemployment of 5.5 percent (in Montréal it drops to 5 percent) compared with 8.8 percent who knew French only.
On the basis of median individual income, those with knowledge of English and French earned about $25,500, thus faring considerably better than either persons who spoke French only (approximately $17,850) or those who were unilingually English ($16,575).
