The school-to-work transitions of second-generation immigrant youth

The children of immigrants obtain high levels of post-secondary attainment in Canada, but their ability to translate these educational credentials into good jobs varies among ethno-racial groups. To understand the social processes behind these unequal outcomes, we conducted in-depth interviews with 27 second-generation immigrant youth living in the province of Ontario. Motivated by the desire for intergenerational upward mobility and trusting in the widespread misrecognition of Canada as an education-based meritocracy, these young people pursued higher education as a means to gain entry into white-collar occupations. Despite their ambitions, the second-generation youth in this study did not have access to the 'career relevant' capital needed to mobilize their educational credentials in the white-collar labour market. And although they engaged in various forms of meta-work to help them acquire 'career-relevant' capital, the challenges they faced were not only the result of differential access to capital, but they also had to do with the way their capital was recognized in the labour market. The findings presented here emphasize the importance of considering how the intersection of multiple overlapping processes of social differentiation (i.e., immigrant status, class position, and ethno-racial background) shape second-generation youth's access to and recognition of 'career-relevant' capital in their school-to-work transitions.