Intégration linguistique des immigrants au marché du travail au Québec
This research aims to analyse the linguistic integration of Quebec’s immigrants to the labour market and the factors related to it. We have chosen to examine the usage of French by immigrants in the workplace. In 2007, about half of Quebec’s immigrants worked only or most of the time in French, a quarter of them used it regularly, and another quarter spoke it rarely or never while working.  Our analyses allow us also to estimate the gross and net effects of various factors concerning the usage of French by immigrants in the workplace. We show that a company’s linguistic dimension, the environment and the personal characteristic of oneself all have a major input on the choice of the work language. As far as the company is concerned, the language use by its managers has a direct effect on hiring policies and work procedures and thus determines in part the language spoken by its employees in the workplace.  The linguistic composition of an immigrant’s social network at work, including his immediate superior and his colleagues, also have an impact on the language he will use.  Consequently, the more francophone that he is in touch with at work and the more chances he has of speaking French. The personal characteristics of immigrants have to do with the language one has made his study in and one’s personal knowledge. The immigrants who already have a good knowledge of French will be more incline to use it at work than those who only know the basics. On the contrary, those who can speak good English will tend to use less French at work.  Other non-linguistic factors also influenced the language used at the workplace. They are: the geographical location of the enterprise, the origin of the immigrants, their profession, and their age at the arrival in Québec.
Immigrant Québec Language of work Linguistic integration Immigrant Quebec Survey