Does a Rising Tide Lift All Boats? Labour Market Experiences and Incomes of Recent Immigrants, a new report by CCSD Senior Research Associate Ekuwa Smith and CCSD Research Director Andrew Jackson, uses the latest available statistics to provide a picture of the challenges facing recent immigrants to Canada. Using data from Statistics Canada’s Survey of Labour and Income Dynamics, the research focuses on levels of employment, earnings, family incomes and poverty rates of recent immigrants compared to those of the rest of the Canadian population over the economic recovery period from 1995 to 1998. Key findings include:

• The gap in employment and income opportunities between recent immigrants and other Canadians narrowed between 1995 and 1998. Regardless of the measure used, poverty fell sharply among recent immigrant families over the 1995 to 1998 period.

• However, gaps remain very large: in 1998, poverty among recent immigrants stood at 27%, double the 13% rate among the rest of the Canadian population; their annual wages and salaries were one-third less than those of other Canadians.

• Despite the large gaps, the rising tide of economic recovery over the second half of the 1990s had a positive impact on the employment opportunities and incomes of recent Canadian immigrants. This indicates that a healthy labour market can provide a major impetus towards equality and the inclusion of recent immigrants into the economic and social mainstream. Other measures, however, are still required.

• Immigration is expected to account for virtually all of the net growth in the Canadian labour force by the year 2011.

• While Canada has always been a nation of immigrants, members of visible minority groups now make up about 11% of the total population, compared to just 6% as recently as 1986. Three in four recent immigrants to Canada now belong to visible minority groups, making them more vulnerable to racial discrimination and social exclusion.

• Another factor which might help explain why recent immigrants have not done as well in the job market as previous cohorts of immigrants is the problem of non-recognition or the undervaluing of foreign education, skills and credentials in a rapidly changing job market.

• Strong economic and job growth seems to be a potent force for greater equality. However, it remains to be seen if the situation of recent immigrants at the end of the 1990s will return to the norm of the early 1980s, when new immigrants to Canada ‘caught up’ economically to the rest of the population within a shorter period of time.

• The successful inclusion of recent immigrants into the Canadian labour market and Canadian society will not be achieved by simply leaving matters to market forces. Rather, a wide range of policies are needed to speed up the process of integration and address sources of disadvantage. These include policies on employment equity, recognition and promotion of the “hidden skills” of new immigrants to prospective employers, provision of language and skills training to new immigrants, and expedited recognition of foreign credentials.

Does a Rising Tide Lift All Boats? - Related Material

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