1999/2000 PCERII Funded Research Abstract

Immigrants face disadvantages in the labour market and immigrants to Canada are increasingly visible minorities. In recent research (Hum and Simpson, 1999), we found no evidence of disadvantage in labour market wage offers for visible minorities who are native born once immigration circumstances (especially years since immigration to Canada and age at immigration) are accounted for. For visible minority members who are immigrants, however, there is evidence of disadvantage, but this disadvantage declines over time with assimilation. We also find that assimilation is slower among visible minorities. For immigrants who are not visible minorities, convergence in labour market earnings occurs within about ten years. For immigrants who are members of a visible minority, our estimates indicate that convergence takes at least fifteen years.

Our proposed study would take a closer look at the labour market experience of immigrants to the prairie region and compare it to the experience of immigrants in other regions and Canada as a whole. Our earlier results suggest that policies to achieve fairness in the Canadian labour market may have to focus more on immigrant assistance and less on traditional employment equity legislation. If labour market disadvantage is primarily concentrated on immigrants who are in their early years in Canada, and in particular on visible minorities, then policies must focus on immigration settlement and employment discrimination against immigrant workers.