WHAT DO WE KNOW ABOUT THE SETTLEMENT EXPERIENCES OF

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WHAT DO WE KNOW ABOUT THE
SETTLEMENT EXPERIENCES OF
IMMIGRANTS TO CANADA’S WEST?
Lori Wilkinson, Jill Bucklaschuk, Jack (Yi) Shen,
Iqbal Ahmed Chowdhury and Tamara Edkins
St. John’s College Soup and Bread Lecture Series
19 November 2014
Objectives of Today’s Presentation
• PROJECT OBJECTIVES: to better understand the
settlement experiences of immigrants in western Canada
and how they may compare to immigrants in other western
provinces
• Labour market, service use, social integration, discrimination, official
language knowledge
• TODAY’S OBJECTIVES
• Examine and compare various outcomes among immigrants in
Manitoba and the rest of Canada with special attention to: labour
market inequalities faced by newcomers
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Datasets used
• Pan Canadian Settlement Survey (N=20,818) and Western
Canadian Settlement Survey (N=3,006) Alberta Settlement
Survey (N=1003)
• Random samples drawn from a CIC data file
• Telephone survey conducted in late 2012-early 2013
• IMDB
• Landings records (LIDS) combined with tax files for all immigrants and
refugees landing between 1980 and 2012
• Census of the immigrant population
• Longitudinal Survey of Immigrants to Canada (2006)
• Followed 5,000 immigrants for their first two years in Canada (landing
between 2002-2004)
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How representative are the surveys?
• Surprisingly good match between IMDB (Census of
immigrants) and the other surveys
• Western Canada Settlement Survey
• Under-represented female economic class dependents
• Over-represented female economic class principal applicants
• Under-represented male and female refugees
• Pan Canadian Settlement Survey
• Under-represented men from BC
• Over-represented women from SK and MB
• Over-represented men from SK and MB
4
Immigrant Arrivals by Province, 2003-12
Immigration Trends, 2003-2012 by Province of Residence
50000
45000
40000
35000
30000
BC
AB
25000
SK
MB
20000
TR*
15000
10000
5000
0
2003
2004
2005
2006
Citizenship and Immigration Canada, 2014
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
TFW, International Students, & Permanent
Residents by Province
TFW, International Students, and Permanent Residents by Province, 2013
80,000
70,000
Number of Respondents
60,000
50,000
40,000
30,000
20,000
10,000
0
BC
AB
TFW
International Students
Citizenship and Immigration Canada, 2014
SK
Permanent Residents
MB
Select demographics
45
40.5
39.9
40
35
Percent
31.2
30.1
30 30.8
27.6
25.1
25
20
25.8
Immigrants as %
of provincial population
BC – 27.5%
AB – 16.2%
10.4
SK – 5.1%
MB – 13.3%
16.6
15
10
Percent rural
immigrants, by province
• BC - 5.5%
• AB - 12.7%
38.9
• SK - 16.3%
• MB - 8.2%
8.9
11.8
10.5
13.0
5.6
5
0
BC
AB
Skilled Worker/ Professional
Provincial Nominee
SK
Family Class
Refugee
7
MB
It is relatively easy for immigrants to find
information related to finding a job in the west
80%
69%
70%
70%
64%
60%
55%
66%
64%
66%
59%
57%
61%
60%
55%
52%
50%
61%
48%
52%
51%
48%
45%
40%
Male
35%
Female
30%
20%
10%
0%
BC
AB
SK
MB
ON
QC
NS
NB
Source: Pan-Cdn
X2 (Male) = 158.677 df= 18 P≤0.000; X2 (Female) = 172.974 df= 18 P≤0.000
PEI
NFLD
Unemployment rate by immigration class and
province
35
28.9
30
Percent
25
20
15
CB=6.1%
14 13.2
19.7
CB=4.4%
CB=3.5%
13
10.1
10
8.5
3.8
5
CB=5.3%
9
10.3 11.3
5.5
0
BC
AB
Skilled worker/professional
SK
Provincial Nominee
Source: WCSS, 2013
X2 (SP)=12.672, df= 6, p≤0.05; X2 (PN) =23.897, df=6, p≤0.001; X2 (R) =39.315, df=6, p≤0.00
Rates for Canadian born taken from Annual Labour Force Survey
MB
Refugee
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Factors influencing employment
British
Columbia
Alberta
Saskatchewan
Manitoba
Sex
3.12**
2.12**
2.19**
2.18**
Education in
Canada
1.52*
0.48*
.34**
0.61*
English ability
1.74*
2.61**
1.66*
1.39*
Months in
Canada
1.06
1.19*
1.33**
1.10
Economic
class
3.5**
0.54*
2.85**
1.21
Racialized
minority
1.43
1.31
0.57*
0.81
Urban residents in MB and BC feel lack of
Canadian experience makes it difficult for
them to find work
Difficulty finding a job due to lack of Canadian
experience by Urban Residence and Province of
Residence
Province of Residence
Total
BC
AB
SK
MB
Urban
63.3%
41.4%
45.7%
66.6%
Rural
36.7%
58.6%
54.3%
33.4%
Total
431
(100%)
365
(100%)
289
(100%)
488
(100%)
881
(56.0%)
692
(44.0%)
1573
(100%)
Some newcomers would like more connections with
employers
Connections with possible employers as being helpful prior to arrival by
province of residence
Province of Residence
BC
AB
SK
MB
Total
57.8%
44.2%
46.7%
59.2%
1488
(52.1%)
42.2%
55.8%
53.3%
40.8%
1368
(47.9%)
682
(100%)
755
(100%)
642
(100%)
777
(100%)
2856
(100%)
No
Yes
Total
Source: WCSS, 2013.
Χ2 = 50.613, df=3, P≤0.01
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Immigrants to the prairies are highly
educated and have good jobs prior to arrival
Pre-arrival NOC level by place of birth
Place of Birth
North
America
Central/South
America &
Caribbean
Europe
Asia
Africa
A
44.4%
43.0%
46.7 %
47.6%
49.3%
47.3%
B
41.4%
39.1%
35.1%
30.0%
26.5%
31.3%
C
14.1%
17.9%
18.1%
22.4%
24.2%
21.4%
Total
Trouble finding work that matches my
qualifications by province and class
Post-arrival job status, immigrants
compared to Canadian-born
Immigrant
Born in
Canada
Pre-arrival
Post-arrival
NOC A
47%
28%
37%
NOC B
30%
27%
26%
NOC C
21%
31%
28%
NOC D
2%
14%
9%
Among university-educated immigrants, 43% of females and 35% of males worked
in occupations requiring a high school education or less. In comparison, only
15% of university-educated Canadian-born worked in occupations requiring high
school education or less.
Statistics Canada ALF 2014; WCSS 2013; Uppall and Larochelle-Côte 2014
Change in post-arrival skill level by province
23%
27%
MB
20%
SK
28%
AB
23%
27%
BC
23%
25%
0%
20%
51%
52%
51%
53%
40%
60%
Up
Same
Down
17
% job status decline by area of birth
North America
C/S America
Europe
Asia
20%
15%
10%
5%
0%
-5%
-10%
-15%
-20%
-25%
-30%
NOC A
Source: WCSS, 2013
χ2=87.387, df = 15, P≤0.00; Gamma= -.180 , P≤ .00
NOC B
NOC C
Africa
Occupational “mobility” by province & class
Refugees
80%
75%
67%
20%
66%
80%
53%
60%
40%
Skilled Worker & Professional
60%
31%
28%
21%
12%
40%
66%
55%
46%
53%
31%
31%
23%
15%
20%
9%
0%
33%
14%
19%16%
0%
BC
AB
Status decline
SK
Stayed same
MB
BC
Status increase
AB
Status decline
Stayed same
SK
MB
Status increase
Provincial Nominees
60%
55%
49%
50%
47%
45%
40%
30%
25%
22%
27% 26%
28% 28%
22% 23%
20%
10%
0%
BC
Status decline
AB
Stayed same
Status increase
SK
MB
Family class: no
statistically significant
differences.
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Job status generally increases with time
45%
40%
35%
30%
25%
NOC A
NOC B
NOC C
20%
NOC D
15%
10%
5%
0%
<1 year
1-1.9 years
2-2.9 years
3-.9 years
4-4.9 years
5+ years
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Why don’t labour market outcomes
rebound?
• There is “less than perfect” international transferability of
skills and work experience
• Those with higher skills experience the largest declines
• Some immigrant characteristics put them at risk of low
returns
• Low or no language skills, “lower” quality education, lack of
good job networks
• Some evidence of labour market discrimination
• There tends to be an assumption that migration is a rational
decision based solely on labour market return
• Fails to take into account the non-economic reasons for migration
• Assumes that immigrants have full knowledge of the labour markets
in which they are entering
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A Second Look at Lower Quality
Education
• If there is a labour market penalty for being educated outside of
Canada, then we might hypothesize the following:
• That those with some Canadian education would have better labour
market outcomes than those without any ‘Canadian attained’
education
• Quantity matters: the more exposure to Canadian education, the
greater the economic returns
• Researchers have revealed that holding immigration
characteristics constant (e.g., language, type of education, sex,
minority status etc). There remains a labour market penalty for
being educated outside of Canada, BUT ONLY FOR THOSE
WHO ARE RACIALIZED MINORITIES.
• 2nd generation still pay a labour market penalty, sometimes as high as
17% for not being white.
Portez & Fernandes, 2008; Wilkinson forthcoming; Buzdugan and Halli 2009
Selected Data Sources
• Alberta Labour. Immigrants in the Labour Force. Edmonton: Government of
•
•
•
•
•
•
Alberta, 2014
Citizenship and Immigration Canada. Evidence from the Pan-Canadian
Settlement Outcomes Survey, 2012. Ottawa: CIC, January 2013.
Citizenship & Immigration Canada IMDB Microdata File. Ottawa: CIC 2013.
V. Esses, L. Hamilton, L. Wilkinson, L. Zong, J. Bucklaschuk and J. Bramadat.
Western Canada Settlement Outcomes Survey. Calgary: CIC Western Region
Office, June 2013.
Statistics Canada Longitudinal Survey of Immigrants to Canada. Ottawa:
Statistics Canada, 2007.
Statistics Canada Annual Labour Force Survey, Ottawa: Statistics Canada, 2014
Statistics Canada National Household Survey, Ottawa: Statistics Canada, 2014
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Additional Findings, Reports and
Information
Immigration Research West
92 Dysart Road
University of Manitoba
Winnipeg, MB Canada R3T 3M5
Email: [email protected]
[email protected]
http://umanitoba.ca/about_IRW.html
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Acknowledgements
• Immigration Research West
• Citizenship and Immigration Canada, Western Region
• Citizenship and Immigration Canada, National Headquarters
• Western Settlement Survey University of Saskatchewan: Martin
Gaal, Joe Garcea and SSRL
• Population Research Laboratory, University of Alberta
• Western Settlement Survey researchers: Victoria Esses (Western
University), Leah Hamilton (Mount Royal University) and Li Zong
(University of Saskatchewan)
• Research assistants: Janine Bramadat, Palak Dhiman, Kaitlyn
Fraser, University of Manitoba
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