Despite many Americans thinking that the US must have its immigration system merit-based as in Canada and not accept “illiterate” or “non-skilled” immigrants, Canada admits about three times more non-college-educated immigrant workers per capita than the United States. According to Statistics Canada’s reports, from 2015 to 2019, Canada admitted 244,800 non‐college-educated immigrants over the age of 25 (0.65 percent of the Canadian population), while the US accepted 729,797 immigrants with the same characteristics during the same period (0.22 percent of the US population).
However, Canada has also admitted about five times more immigrant workers with bachelor’s degrees and four times more workers with advanced degrees than the US, admitting four times more immigrants per capita its labour force than its neighbour.
