WHAT DO WE KNOW ABOUT THE SETTLEMENT EXPERIENCES OF IMMIGRANTS TO CANADA S WEST?

1 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 2

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) 3

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 50000 Immigration Trends, 2003-2012 by Province of Residence 45000 40000 35000 30000 25000 20000 BC AB SK MB TR* 15000 10000 5000 0 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 Citizenship and Immigration Canada, 2014

TFW, International Students, & Permanent Residents by Province 80,000 TFW, International Students, and Permanent Residents by Province, 2013 70,000 60,000 Number of Respondents 50,000 40,000 30,000 20,000 10,000 0 BC AB SK MB TFW International Students Permanent Residents Citizenship and Immigration Canada, 2014

Percent Select demographics 45 40 35 30 25 20 15 10 5 0 30.8 40.5 5.6 8.9 39.9 30.1 10.5 16.6 31.2 27.6 25.1 25.8 7 11.8 13.0 38.9 BC AB SK MB Skilled Worker/ Professional Provincial Nominee Family Class Refugee Percent rural immigrants, by province BC - 5.5% AB - 12.7% SK - 16.3% MB - 8.2% 10.4 Immigrants as % of provincial population BC 27.5% AB 16.2% SK 5.1% MB 13.3%

It is relatively easy for immigrants to find information related to finding a job in the west 80% 70% 60% 50% 55% 48% 69% 57% 70% 66% 64% 64% 55% 48% 59% 61% 52% 52% 60% 51% 45% 66% 61% 40% 30% 35% Male Female 20% 10% 0% BC AB SK MB ON QC NS NB PEI NFLD Source: Pan-Cdn X 2 (Male) = 158.677 df= 18 P 0.000; X 2 (Female) = 172.974 df= 18 P 0.000

Unemployment rate by immigration class and province Percent 35 30 25 20 15 10 5 0 CB=6.1% 14 13.2 19.7 CB=4.4% 10.1 Source: WCSS, 2013 X 2 (SP)=12.672, df= 6, p 0.05; X 2 (PN) =23.897, df=6, p 0.001; X 2 (R) =39.315, df=6, p 0.00 Rates for Canadian born taken from Annual Labour Force Survey 3.8 5.5 CB=3.5% 8.5 9 28.9 CB=5.3% 13 10.3 11.3 BC AB SK MB Skilled worker/professional Provincial Nominee Refugee

10 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 Economic class Racialized minority 1.06 1.19* 1.33** 1.10 3.5** 0.54* 2.85** 1.21 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 BC AB SK MB Total Urban 63.3% 41.4% 45.7% 66.6% 881 (56.0%) Rural 36.7% 58.6% 54.3% 33.4% 692 (44.0%) Total 431 (100%) 365 (100%) 289 (100%) 488 (100%) 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 No BC AB SK MB 57.8% 44.2% 46.7% 59.2% Total 1488 (52.1%) Yes 42.2% 55.8% 53.3% 40.8% 1368 (47.9%) Total 682 (100%) 755 (100%) 642 (100%) 777 (100%) 2856 (100%) Source: WCSS, 2013. Χ 2 = 50.613, df=3, P 0.01 12

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 Total A 44.4% 43.0% 46.7 % 47.6% 49.3% 47.3% 13 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%

Trouble finding work that matches my qualifications by province and class

Post-arrival job status, immigrants compared to Canadian-born Pre-arrival Immigrant Post-arrival Born in Canada 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 MB 23% 27% 51% SK AB 20% 28% 23% 27% 52% 51% Up Same Down BC 23% 25% 53% 0% 20% 40% 60%

17 % job status decline by area of birth 20% North America C/S America Europe Asia Africa 15% 10% 5% 0% -5% -10% -15% -20% -25% -30% Source: WCSS, 2013 χ 2 =87.387, df = 15, P 0.00; Gamma= -.180, P.00 NOC A NOC B NOC C

Occupational mobility by province & class 80% 60% 40% 20% 67% 21% 12% Refugees 53% 28% 75% 9% 66% 31% Skilled Worker & Professional 80% 66% 60% 55% 53% 46% 40% 31% 31% 33% 23% 15% 19% 14% 16% 20% 0% BC AB SK MB 0% BC AB SK MB Status decline Stayed same Status increase Status decline Stayed same Status increase Provincial Nominees 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 49% 47% 45% 27% 28% 25% 26% 28% 22% 55% 22% 23% Family class: no statistically significant differences. 10% 0% Status decline Stayed same Status increase BC AB SK MB

19 Job status generally increases with time 45% 40% 35% 30% 25% 20% NOC A NOC B NOC C 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

20 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

21 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. 2 nd 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 22

Additional Findings, Reports and Information Immigration Research West 92 Dysart Road University of Manitoba Winnipeg, MB Canada R3T 3M5 Email: Lori.Wilkinson@umanitoba.ca irw@umanitoba.ca http://umanitoba.ca/about_irw.html 23

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 24