In Quebec, 53% of young people aged 18 to 34 speak only French in their workplace, according to data released Thursday by the Quebec Office of the French Language (OQLF). However, this proportion drops in Montreal and Gatineau, where workers more often have to provide service in English.
The OQLF surveyed 6,008 young people between February and April 2021 to carry out this study. Across the province, 38% of 18 to 34 year olds surveyed say they regularly use French and English at work.
However, the picture differs in Montreal and Gatineau, where working in both languages is more common. Half of young people in Montreal say they regularly use French and English at work. In metropolitan France, 36% of workers said they regularly work only in French, and 10% only in English.
The situation is similar in Gatineau, in Outaouais, where 39% of respondents said they work only in French, 49% in French and English, and 11% only in English.
However, the OQLF study reveals that 66% of 18 to 34 year olds prefer to work in French. On the contrary, 11% of them prefer to work in English.
The document specifies that the proportion of workers for whom French is the only language spoken at work varies between 62% and 69% in the census metropolitan areas (CMAs) of Québec, Trois-Rivières and Sherbrooke. In the Saguenay CMA, 73% of young workers mainly use French at work.
Workers’ education also has an impact on the language in which they perform their professional duties, according to the OQLF.
“Francophones who obtained a post-secondary diploma from a French-language institution in Quebec were more likely to prefer to work in French (80%) than those who obtained their diploma from an English-language institution in Quebec (40%) “, can we read in the study of the organization.
With regard to the allophone population, made up of people who most often speak a language other than French or English at home, three-quarters of those who obtained a diploma in a French-speaking Quebec institution said they used French more often at work. Among those who studied in English, 24% say they use French most frequently.