Date of Award
2008
Degree Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Arts
Program
Sociology
Abstract
Inunigrants make up a considerable proportion ofthe Canadian population, and are needed to support the Canadian economy. Immigrants appear to be having difficulty entering the labour market, even when achieving educationalsuccess. Answersastowhyareincompleteandtendnottotake immigrant diversity (especially in terms of country of origin and gender) into account. Toexplorelabourmarketoutcomesofworkers,thisstudyuseddata from the Ethnic Diversity Survey, and sought to examine the impact of country of birth, gender, education and age at arrival on immigrant labour market outcomes. The survey sampled 41,695 men and women and asked them about their country of origin, gender, education, age at arrival and labour market outcomes. The analyses conducted revealed several significant findings. Firstly, the study confirmed that men and women from different places of birth did experience different labour market outcomes, and this was particularly true for men and women from the Caribbean, Central and South America. Secondly, it was found that age at arrival impacts female immigrants more substantially than males, with younger ages at arrival having a beneficial impact on labour market outcomes. Thirdly, age at immigration had no impact on educational attainment for females. Males, however, reported earning a university degree of higher when they arrived in Canada after the age of 15. Next, it was found that other foreign-born men and women had different occupational outcomes as compared to the native-born
population, and this was particularly true for those earning less than a university degree. Finally, the present study determined that both females and males with
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less than a university education, arriving at 14 years of age or younger seem to be moreadvantagedintermsoftheiroccupationthanthosewhenolder. Theseissues are important to examine as they not only impact our Canadian immigration policies, but they continue to shape our economy and society.
Recommended Citation
Branco, Marsha Priscilla, "Immigrant Labour Market Outcomes in Canada: Accounting for Age at Arrival, Country of Origin and Gender" (2008). Digitized Theses. 4795.
https://ir.lib.uwo.ca/digitizedtheses/4795